The pioneering research of Eleanor Rogan, Ph.D., professor in the Eppley Institute, has earned her the 2006 Linus Pauling Award for Functional Medicine.
The Linus Pauling Award is given for research that is changing the thinking about a biomedical problem.
Dr. Rogan’s groundbreaking research has determined human estrogen can be metabolized into forms that can damage DNA and possibly lead to cancer.
Dr. Rogan received the award April 22, while attending the 13th International Symposium on Functional Medicine in Tampa, Fla., sponsored by The Institute for Functional Medicine, Gig Harbor, Wash.
Dr. Rogan said the honor will accelerate her research to prevent breast and other types of cancer. “The significant results of our research are important for helping to prevent cancer, in particular breast and prostate,” she said. “I hope it will lead to more people realizing the significance of what research is doing and interest people in pursuing similar research.”
The award, she said, advocates her scientific approach to the prevention of cancer. “I am a pioneer in doing this research, which is not widely accepted,” Dr. Rogan said. “I’ve followed what I think is important. I’m not just doing what’s popular.”
The award also shines bright on UNMC.
“The award gives UNMC recognition for the quality of its cancer research, which it has long been a leader in,” said Kenneth Cowan M.D., Ph.D., director of the Eppley Institute and the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center.
Linus Pauling is the only person ever to receive two unshared Nobel Prizes – for chemistry (1954) and for peace (1962). His colleagues often acknowledged Dr. Pauling as the most influential chemist since Lavosier, the 18th-century founder of the modern science of chemistry.