Millennium Magazine_3rdEd

54 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine EDUCATION D rawing uponmore than 50 years of practiced experience, Dr. William D. Odell is a venerated physician, educator and research scientist whose interest in his profession formed when he was just a child. Desiring to be a scientist from the time he was 12 years old, he first conducted independent research before delving into academia. He holds a BA from the University of California Berkeley, MS andMD in physiology from the University of Chicago and a PhD in biochemistry and physiology from The GeorgeWashington University. Subsequent to receiving hisMD, he served as a postdoctoral fellow in endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Washington before beginning his tenure with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where he served as a senior investigator of the endocrine branch. While at NCI, Dr. Odell developed the first radioimmunoassay for HCG, permitting increased ability to followchemotherapy of patientswithmetastatic choriocarcinoma, and NCI was able to report a cure of 73 percent in more than 70 patients, the world’s first successful cures of metastatic cancer. He also developed the first radioimmunoassays for human luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone, and described for the first time changes in LH and FSH in women’s blood during a normal menstrual cycle and oral contraceptive treatment. He was the first to show that all normal prepubertal children had detectable LH and FSH in blood and urine, demonstrating that puberty in humans is caused by a decrease in sensitivity at the pituitary/ hypothalamus. He developed the first RIA for thyroid stimulation hormone (TSH), now used universally for diagnosing disorders of thyroid function in adults and children and for screening of neonatal infants for thyroid hormone deficiency. Since 1999, Dr. Odell has been a professor emeritus of medicine and physiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, where he served as professor and chairman of the department of internal medicine. Apast visiting professor of medicine at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, he was the recipient of the Robert Williams Award from the Endocrine Society, having previously received service and research awards from various universities and societies. WILLIAM D. ODELL, MD, PHD, MACP PHYSICIAN, EDUCATOR, RESEARCH SCIENTIST University of Utah School of Medicine Salt Lake City, UT