Richard K. Orkand, PhD.

Richard K. Orkand born New York, April 23, 1936. B.S. in Pharmacy, Columbia University (1956). Ph.D. in Pharmacology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City (1961). Postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Prof. Bernard Katz at University College in London, on the electric properties of heart cells (1961-64). Moved to the laboratory of Stephen Kuffler at Harvard, where he made a landmark study of the glial contribution to potassium buffering (1964-66). Assistant Professor of Physiology, University of Utah (1966-68). Associate Professor of Zoology, UCLA Research (1968-71). Professor of Biology, member of Brain Research Institute, UCLA (1971-74). Honorary M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania (1974). Professor and Chairman of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania (1974-86). NRSA Award, Invited Professor, Department of Physiology and Experimental Ophthalmology, University of Geneva, working with Jonathan Coles (1981-82). Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior US Scientist Prize, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Heidelberg with Helmut Kettenmann (1982-83). Professor of Physiology, UPR Medical Sciences Campus (1986-2002). Director of the Institute of Neurobiology, UPR (1986-96). Died in Seattle, Washington on January 16, 2002. 

Dr. Orkand produced 86 papers and reviews on the physiology of neuroglia, neuron-glia interactions, excitation-contraction coupling and nociception. 

"In Memoriam: An Appreciation of Richard Orkand: 1936-2002"
By Bruce R. Ransom & Helmut Kettenmann, published in GLIA (volume 39, pages 189-192)

The meeting "A Tribute to Professor Richard K. Orkand" was held in Old San Juan, December 7, 2002. 

Speakers: Alan Grinnell, Ph.D., Brian M. Salzberg, Ph.D., José R. Lemos, Ph.D., Ladislav Vyklicky, Dr.Sc., Martin Morad, Ph.D., Arthur M. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., Eva Sykova, M.D., Ph.D., Dr.Sc., Helmut O. Kettenmann, Ph.D., Bruce Ransom, M.D.