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Obituary for Professor Salvatore J. Enna

IUPHAR mourns about Professor Salvatore J. Enna, the long-time Secretary General and Past-President of IUPHAR who passed away on June 15, 2023 in the age of 78 years. Sam Enna was Chair of Pharmacology at the University of Missouri, Kansas City for 30 years and he was also known as the long-time Editor-in-Chief of the Journals Biochemical Pharmacology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and Editor of many other journals. He was also former president of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Sam’s decease is a great loss for IUPHAR, as he has shaped IUPHAR for many years. Sam was secretary general for eight years, President for four and then past-President. He gave crucial impulses with great dedication, cultivated many contacts and made new ones. With his engaging and encouraging nature, he was a friend and mentor for many. He was also a great supporter of NC-IUPHAR, coming to all the meetings, and supporting the Guidetopharmacology.org.

Sam had also a long scientific life, starting with a PhD (1970) in Pharmacology from the University of Missouri with postdoctoral appointments at the University of Texas with Parkhurst Shore (1970-72), Hoffmann La Roche in Basel, Switzerland, with Alfred Pletscher (1973-74), then Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland, with Solomon Snyder (1974-76). He was Professor for a decade at the University of Texas Medical School, before becoming SVP and then Executive Vice President at Nova Pharmaceutical Corporation in Baltimore (1986-1992). He was then appointed as Professor and Chair at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, Kansas, then Associate Dean of Research, and finally emeritus Profesor in 2020. Sam mainly worked on GABA_A and GABA_B receptor pharmacology and on GPCR and ion channel receptors – and this work first introduced him to IUPHAR. He wrote 250 publications and gave 113 invited lectures with a vast network of colleagues.

Sam Enna had a remarkable sense of humour, with legendary anecdotes. His capacity for travel matched his global network of colleagues, who will all miss him. He really did maintain an International Union of Pharmacology.

IUPHAR owes much to Professor Sam Enna, we will keep him in grateful and honorable memory. Our deepest sympathy goes to his wife of fifty years, Colleen, their three children , and their grandchildren.

Ingolf Cascorbi Michael Spedding

President IUPHAR Secretary General