1999 Recipients

For development of HMG CoA reductase inhibitors.

Michael S. Brown received an M.D. degree in 1966 from the University of Pennsylvania.  He was an intern and resident at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and a post doctoral fellow with Earl Stadtman at the National Institutes of Health.  He is currently Paul J. Thomas Professor of Molecular Genetics and Director of the Jonsson Center for Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.  Dr. Brown and his colleague, Dr. Joseph L. Goldstein, discovered the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor, which controls cholesterol in blood and in cells.  They showed that mutations in this receptor cause Familial Hypercholesterolemia, a disorder that leads to premature heart attacks.  Their work laid the groundwork for drugs called statins that block cholesterol synthesis, increase LDL receptors, lower blood cholesterol and prevent heart attacks.  Statins are taken daily by more than 20 million people worldwide.  Brown and Goldstein shared many awards for this work, including the U.S. National Medal of Science and the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology.