| Administrative History | John Vane (1927 - 2004) entered the University of Birmingham in 1944 and entered Professor Harold Burn's department at Oxford in 1946 to be trained in pharmacology. Vane received a 'BSc. in pharmacology and then spent a few months in Sheffield University as a research worker in the pharmacology department. [He] returned to Oxford to the Nuffield Institute for Medical Research in order to study for a D. Phil. with Dr. Geoffrey Dawes. In 1951 [he] was awarded the Stothert Research Fellowship of The Royal Society, which enabled [Vane] to complete his doctorate in 1953'.
Vane and his family went to Newhaven, Connecticut in 1953, where he joined the Department of Pharmacology at Yale University as Assistant Professor in Pharmacology for two years. In 1955, Vane went to work with Professor William Drummond M. Paton at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences of the University of London in the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He stayed there for eighteen years, 'progressing from Senior Lecturer to Reader to Professor of Experimental Pharmacology'.
'It was here that' Vane and his colleagues 'developed the cascade superfusion bioassay technique for measurement of, dynamically and instantaneously, the release and fate of vasoactive hormones in the circulation or in the perfusion fluid of isolated organs. In the mid - 1960's, our attention was focused on prostaglandins, leading in 1971 to the forging of the link between aspirin and the prostaglandins'.
In 1973, Vane accepted the position of Group Research and Development Director for The Wellcome Foundation. The Prostaglandin Research department was founded, and 'it was in this department that prostacyclin was discovered and its pharmacology developed'.
Also in 1973, Vane was elected Honorary Member of the Polish Pharmacological Society and made Fellow of the Institute of Biology. In 1974, Vane was elected Fellow of the Royal Society; in 1977 he was the Walter C. McKenzie Visiting Professor, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; in 1978, he was elected Honorary Fellowship of the American College of Physicians and made member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium. In 1979, Vane was elected Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts & Sciences and was visiting Professor, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. In 1980, Vane was elected Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences; in 1982, he was elected Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, U.S.A. and made Honorary Fellowship of the Swedish Society of Medical Sciences. In 1983, Vane was elected Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A.
Vane received a number of honorary degrees: 1977 D. Med. (Hon. Causa) Copernicus Academy of Medicine, Cracow; 1978 Doctor Hon Causa René Descartes University, Paris; 1980 Doctor of Science (Hon. Causa) Mount Sinai Medical School, City University of New York, U.S.A. and 1983 Doctor of Science, Aberdeen University.
'Dr Vane founded the William Harvey Research Institute, specializing in cardiovascular and inflammation research, in 1986, serving first as chairman, then as director general. In 1996, the institute became part of the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, affiliated with Queen Mary University of the University of London'.
Vane was knighted in 1984.
Vane was awarded with:
1977 Baly Medallist of the Royal College of Physicians
1977 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
1979 Joseph J. Bunim Medal of the American Rheumatism Association
1980 Peter Debye Prize, University of Maastricht, Holland
1980 Nuffield Lecture & Gold Medal, Royal Society of Medicine, England
1980 Feldberg Foundation Prize
1980 Ciba Geigy Drew Award, Drew University, U.S.A.
1981 Dale Medallist, Society for Endocrinology
1983 Nobel Prize in Medicine
Vane's autobiography briefly describes his childhood during World War Two and his introduction to chemistry and experimentation.
Cited from Wilhelm Odelberg, ed., 'Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 1982', [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1983, taken from 'Nobelprize.org' web page 'John R. Vane - Autobiography', http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1982/vane-autobio.html (2005).
Also cited from The American Physiology Society web page, 'John R. Vane', http://www.the-aps.org/membership/obituaries/john_vane.htm (2005).
The J R Vane Medal 'was established in 2001 and will be awarded annually for outstanding work ... The Prize is a medal and £1,000 ... The successful candidate will be given the opportunity to present a lecture at a meeting of the Society ... and also to produce a manuscript for the British Journal of Pharmacology or British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology'. Past winners: '2001 W C Bowman; 2002 C A Marsden; 2003 P Vanhoutte; 2004 S Nahorski [and] 2005 T Bolton'.
Cited from the British Pharmacology Society web page, 'Awards', http://www.bps.ac.uk/aboutbps/hons_bur_prizes.jsp#vane (2005).
According to letter, dated 22 July 1986, from Vane to Kosterlitz, The William Harvey Research Institute was named after William Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood and who worked at Barts [St. Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College]. |
| Description | Correspondence in the file was written whilst Vane was at the Department of Pharmacology, Royal College of Surgeons of England, London, 1963 - 1972, whilst he was based at The Wellcome Research Laboratories, Beckenham, Kent, 1974 - 1983, and when he was Director of The William Harvey Research Institute, 1986.
Correspondence, dated April - May 1963 relating to Vane reading Mr. Gyang's thesis and the possibility of him proceeding to a Ph.D. degree at Aberdeen. N.B. ?letter dated 26 April 1963 remains closed under data protection legislation.
N. B. ?letter dated 5 November 1965 remains closed under data protection legislation.
Includes a handwritten letter, dated 21 February 1967, from Vane to Kosterlitz, mentioning that he is a committee member and a Gaddum trustee. Letter thanks Kosterlitz for nominating Vane for the first Gaddum lecturer and explains that Vane was not chosen. N. B. ?remains closed under data protection legislation.
Letter, dated 22 May 1968, from Vane to Mr. J. G. N. Fraser, University of Aberdeen, saying that Vane will be happy to act as examiner for Mrs Cowie's thesis. Letter is annotated in pencil, 'Phoned John Vane Frid 9th October for oral ex'.
Letter, dated 26 November 1968, from Kosterlitz to Vane, saying that he had 'discussed the possible dates for the oral examination of Mrs Cowie with Laurence Malcolm'. Also, letter mentions that Kosterlitz will return Hughes' Thesis 'in a day or two'.
Short letter, dated 30 April 1968, from Kosterlitz to Vane, says, 'This note is to confirm that I shall be able to be in London on Tuesday, 24 September. I hope that this will be a suitable date for the viva'.
Letter, dated 24 September 1968, from Vane to Kosterlitz, enclosing a possible draft of the Examiner's statement on Mr. Gilmore's thesis. N.B. ?remains closed under data protection legislation.
Letter, dated 16 October 1968, from Vane to Kosterlitz, enclosing [not present in file] a copy of Mr Gilmore's thesis.
Letter, dated 19 August 1969, from Kosterlitz to Vane, saying that Bill Paton [?of the British Journal of Pharmacology] asked Kosterlitz to design a questionnaire for referees and to consult fellow editors about it. Letter asks Vane to look at the enclosed draft and provide Kosterlitz with his comments.
Letter, dated 4 November 1970, mentions that John Gilbert has joined the Department of Pharmacology, Aberdeen, this session as lecturer in Biochemical Pharmacology.
N.B. ?letter dated 7 December 1972, relating to Vane's examination fee, remains closed under data protection legislation.
Letter, dated 7 June 1974, from Kosterlitz to Vane, confirming that John Hughes and Kosterlitz intend to give a seminar at The Wellcome Research Laboratories in 'Direct and Indirect Evidence for the Presence of an Endogenous Morphine - like Substance in the Nervous System'.
Brief correspondence, dated April 1975, between Vane and Kosterlitz & Hughes, regarding misunderstandings on the nature of their collaboration. Vane writes that he understood this collaboration to mean that Wellcome would supply Kosterlitz with pigs heads so that Hughes 'could bring to a state of purity a small sample of the endogenous morphine - like compound', and then the sample would return to Wellcome for 'characterization'.
Two letters, dated October 1975, relate to Kosterlitz sending to Vane the sample of naloxone hydrochloride. Correspondence relates to the sending of other scientific samples, as well as Kosterlitz's scientific results.
Letter, dated 25 October 1978, from Vane to Kosterlitz, congratulating him on the Lasker Award.
Letter, dated 24 October 1983, from Vane to Kosterlitz, asking whether Professor Sergeio Ferreira [Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirao Preto, Universidade de Sao Paulo] could speak briefly about the 'peripheral analgesic effects of opiates' at Kosterlitz's symposium on 'Pain Mechanisms' for the next International Congress.
Includes Kosterlitz's reply, dated 28 October 1983, which is in the affirmative, and letter, dated 14 November 1983, from Ferreira, thanking Kosterlitz. Letter from Ferreira is annotated with 'Read 24/11/83 xerox copy passed to Sandy 24/11/83, also Prof. Gillespie'.
Letter, from 22 July 1986, from Vane to Kosterlitz, telling him 'what has been happening since I resigned from the Wellcome Foundation in September 1985'. Letter says that Vane has done 'a lot of travelling and lecturing' and gives details of ideas he has for the future. 'One [idea] which was discussed fairly widely was to start a scientific consulting company which would put together "Scientific Assessment Panels" for different pharmaceutical houses ... The idea, therefore, was to offer to Research or Commerical management, through the consulting company, a chance to have their R & D [Research & Development] projects and programmes reviewed by groups of external scientists of international repute, chosen to match the Company's portfolio, who would give objective opinions on the quality of the science and on the likelihood that the scientific portfolio would lead to successful results ... However, the reason that the idea did not take off was a pragmatic one in that the man who was going to act as the marketing leader for the group suddenly became a corporate slave and was unable to participate'.
Letter talks about his other idea, which was to continue to direct scientific research. Letter details Vane's possible career paths, his decision to work at St. Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College (Barts) and the founding of the William Harvey Research Institute.
There are a number gaps in the correspondence: between May 1963 and November 1965; November 1965 and February 1967; February 1967 and April 1988; February - August 1969; September 1969 and July 1970; July - November 1970; November 1970 and December 1972, December 1972 and June 1974; June 1974 and April 1975; April - October 1975; October 1975 and January 1976; January - November 1976; November 1976 and January 1977; January 1977 and October 1978; November 1978 and January 1980; January 1980 and October 1983, and November 1983 and July 1986. |