Seymour Kety was a well-known American neuroscientist who helped to establish psychiatry as a scientific discipline. Kety couldn’t participate in sports activities as a child due to a foot injury, therefore he grew fascinated with chemistry as a result of an intellectually stimulating environment at home and at school. Even as a child, he created a lab in his house and spent hours experimenting, demonstrating his dedication and desire. It’s no surprise that the young child grew up to be a genius, inventing groundbreaking concepts in physiology, psychology, and neuroscience. His accomplishments include establishing a solid link between genetics and schizophrenia, as well as the use of chelating agents to treat metal toxicity in children. The Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science, also known as America’s Nobel Prize, was given to him. Learn everything there is to know about this brilliant mind’s childhood, profile, and career by scrolling down.
Childhood and Education
Semyour S. Kety was born in a humble yet intellectually fascinating home on August 25, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was injured as a toddler by a car, which caused him to lose his foot. It limited his movements and prevented him from participating in sporting activities, despite the fact that it was not serious. As a result, he became more interested in intellectual activities. Kety earned his schooling at Central High School in Philadelphia, where he was able to pursue his passion in physical science while still receiving Greek and Latin courses. He had developed an interest for chemistry as a child and had built up a lab in his home where he spent hours exploring. In 1940, Kety graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed his internship at Philadelphia General Hospital.
Career of Seymour Kety
Kety married Josephine Gross, a childhood friend who aspired to be a paediatrician, during his internship. Because of his friendship with Josephine, Kety may have been persuaded to pursue additional research on pediatric disorders while in medical school and during his internship. Doctors were concerned about the rising number of cases of lead poisoning in children at the time. Kety discovered that chelating drugs can be utilized to treat heavy metal intoxication through his studies.
Kety received a post-doctoral grant from the National Research Council at Harvard Medical School in order to further his interest in lead poisoning, and he chose to work under Joseph Aub, a renowned lead poisoning researcher. However, it wasn’t until Kety arrived to begin his Fellowship that he realized Joseph Aub had altered his field of study. Aub was now working on traumatic and hemmoragic shock research, which was becoming increasingly important as America was engulfed in a war. Kety became interested in the subject of cardiovascular physiology while working with Aub. He then returned to the University of Pennsylvania, where he collaborated with Carl Schmidt, a cerebral circulation expert. In addition, he became a pharmacology instructor at Pennsylvania University.
Kety was a fantastic instructor who was well-liked by his students. His significant interest in cerebral circulation sparked a drive to learn more about the process and the many methods for calculating blood flow. The fruitful collaboration between Kety and Schmidt resulted in a groundbreaking approach for measuring blood flow in the living brain. This technology was crucial in the development of modern technologies like PET scanning. Seymour left Pennsylvania University in 1951 to become the Scientific Director of the newly founded NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) and NINDB Intramural Research Programs (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke). He is recognized with establishing 200 laboratories dedicated to the study of diverse parts of psychology and biology that aid in the understanding of the brain.
Kety resigned as scientific director in 1956 to become the chief of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Laboratory of Clinical Science, where he established a study program on the biology of schizophrenia. There, he researched the etiology of schizophrenia as well as the genetic factors that influence the disease. He left the institute in 1961 to become the chairman of the John Hopkins University psychiatry department, yet he resigned since clinical practice was his top interest and returned to the institute. He became a Psychiatric faculty member at Harvard in 1967. He retired in 1983 and went to work as a senior psychobiologist at Mc Lean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. Seymour Kety died on May 25, 2000, at the age of 84, in Westwood, Massachusetts. He was a ‘Emeritus Professor’ of neurology at Harvard Medical School at the time of his death.
Achievements of Seymour Kety
Kety’s ideas and discoveries established the foundation for a number of new hypotheses. By proving a solid link between genetics and schizophrenia, he transformed the path of psychiatry, a field in which he had never been trained. He stated that psychosis is frequently caused by hereditary effects. He did a lot of research on brain circulation. He was also the first to treat metal poisoning with a chelating chemical. He has made a huge contribution to neuroscience.
Legacy of Seymour Kety
Seymour Kety was a pioneer in the fields of psychiatry, physiology, and neuroscience. He established 200 laboratories to research diverse areas of physiology and biology as the first scientific director of the National Institute of Mental Health.
Works of Seymour Kety
The Transmission of Schizophrenia; results of the Foundations’ Fund for Research in Psychiatry’s second research conference, held in Dorado, Puerto Rico, from June 26 to July 1, 1967. Amines and schizophrenia; [papers] (co-authored). (co-authored) Neurological and mental illnesses’ genetics.
Regional neurochemistry is concerned with the chemistry, physiology, and pharmacology of the nervous system in its many regions. The pharmacology of psychotomimetic and psychotherapy medicines (co-authored).
Awards of Seymour Kety
Hevesy Pioneer Award, 1988 National Academy of Sciences Award in Neurosciences, 1988
1999 Lasker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Medical Science
Estimated Net Worth
Seymour is one of the wealthiest doctors and one of the most popular. Seymour Kety’s net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.