Science & invention
Jerome Horwitz
1919–2012 · chemist, cancer researcher
Detroit chemist who in 1964 first synthesized AZT, which two decades later became the first approved drug against HIV.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Bloomfield Township, Michigan
aged 93- Birth name
- Jerome Phillip Horwitz
- Also known as
- Jerome P. Horwitz
- Detroit years
- 1919–2012
- Field
- Science & invention
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Horwitz was born in Detroit in 1919, the son of a Jewish family, and graduated from Central High School in 1937. He took his bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry at the University of Detroit and his doctorate at the University of Michigan. He spent his research career in Detroit at the Michigan Cancer Foundation, the forerunner of today's Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, and on the faculty of Wayne State University's School of Medicine. In 1964, working under a federal grant on possible cancer drugs, he synthesized azidothymidine, or AZT. It did nothing against cancer in mice and was set aside, unpatented. In 1985 researchers found that it blocked HIV, and in 1987 AZT became the first drug approved to treat AIDS. Horwitz received no royalties, though he was later honored for the discovery. He retired in 2005 and died in 2012.
Highlights
- First synthesized azidothymidine (AZT) in 1964
- AZT became the first approved HIV/AIDS drug in 1987
- Researcher at the Michigan Cancer Foundation, now the Karmanos Cancer Institute
- Central High School class of 1937; University of Detroit graduate
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1960s–2005
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute (formerly the Michigan Cancer Foundation)
The Detroit cancer research center, then the Michigan Cancer Foundation, where he synthesized AZT in 1964 and worked until retiring in 2005.
Studied here · until 1937
Central High School
He graduated from Detroit's oldest public high school in 1937.
Studied here · late 1930s–1940s
University of Detroit Mercy (then University of Detroit)
He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry here.