Oleh Hornykiewicz


Oleh Hornykiewicz was an Austrian biochemist.

Biography

Hornykiewicz was born in 1926 in Sykhiw, then in Poland. In 1951, he received his M.D. degree from the University of Vienna and joined the faculty of his alma mater the same year and has worked there ever since. He also served for twenty years as chairman of the Institute of Biochemical Pharmacology. In 1967, he began a long association with the University of Toronto in Canada and, in 1992, he was named professor emeritus at that institution.
One of his seminal accomplishments was the discovery that Parkinson's disease was due to dopamine deficiency in the brain. He also played a key role in the development of L-dopa as a therapy for the disorder.

Awards