Professor Ignarro is the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Professor Ignarro received this award for his contributions to the discovery of "nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system."
Prof. Ignarro is presently a professor of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology at the UCLA School of Medicine.
Professor Ignarro was born in Brooklyn and raised in the New York City area. He received his bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Following work at the National Institutes of Health and Geigy (now merged into Novartus), in 1979 he was appointed Professor of Pharmacology at Tulane University, and in 1985 moved to UCLA where he remains today. In addition to the Nobel Prize he was also received the Merck Research Award,the Edward G. Schlieder Foundation Award, the Lilly Research Award, and a USPHS Research Career Development Award, in addition to ten "Golden Apple" Awards at UCLA.
Professor Ignarro will deliver the Keynote Address at the Opening Ceremony on Monday night.