In the past, he was the Research Director of the Wellcome Research Laboratories from 1986 to 1995 and, until recently, the Director of the UCL Wolfson Institute, which he established at University College London in 1996. His research interests include inflammation and vascular biology and he is currently working on the regulation of cell proliferation. He gained fame for his discoveries related to nitric oxide function and metabolism, and his exclusion from the 1996 Lasker Award and the 1998 Nobel Prize in medicine.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
Sir Salvador was nominated by Xiomara Castro, the President of Honduras, to serve as their first Ambassador to China following the Honduran government's recognition of the People's Republic of China in March 2023. The Embassy in Beijing was opened in June 2023.[11]
Early life and education
Moncada was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to Salvador Moncada and Jenny Seidner on 3 December 1944, and moved to El Salvador in 1948. He attended the secondary School Instituto Nacional in San Salvador (El Salvador) between 1957 and 1961. In 1962, he went to study medicine at the University of El Salvador where he received an MD degree in 1970. In 1971 he went to London to work on a research doctorate with John Vane at the Department of Pharmacology of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Royal College of Surgeons. In 1974, Moncada obtained a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of London. After a short period of research at the National Autonomous University of Honduras between 1974 and 1975, he moved to the Wellcome Research Laboratories (Beckenham, Kent), where he became director of research in 1986. During this period he also received a higher DSc degree from the University of London in 1983. In 1996, Moncada moved to this university, where he was director of the UCL Wolfson Institute (formerly known as The Cruciform Project for Strategic Medical Research) until 2011 and a professor of experimental biology and therapeutics until 2013.[2][12]
Research
His scientific career began at the Royal College of Surgeons, where he collaborated in the discovery that aspirin-like drugs inhibit prostaglandin biosynthesis. This finding elucidated the mechanism by which these drugs act as analgesic, antipyretic, and anti-inflammatory agents and also explained the mechanism by which they cause gastric damage. In 1975, at the Wellcome Research Laboratories, he led the team that discovered the enzyme thromboxane synthase and the vasodilatorprostacyclin. This work contributed to the understanding of how low doses of aspirin prevent cardiovascular episodes such as myocardial infarction and stroke. As director of research at the Wellcome Research Laboratories he presided over the discovery and development of lamotrigine (an anti-epileptic compound), atovaquone (an anti-malarial) and zomig (for treatment of migraine headaches), and initiated the work that resulted in the development of lapatinib for the treatment of breast cancer. He was also responsible for the identification of nitric oxide as a biological mediator and the elucidation of the metabolic pathway leading to its synthesis. A great deal of the early work on the biological significance of nitric oxide in the cardiovascular system came from his laboratory, as well as some fundamental information about the role of nitric oxide in the peripheral and central nervous systems and in cancer. His later work has focused on the areas of mitochondrial biology and cell metabolism. Most recently, his work has led to the finding of the molecular mechanism that coordinates cell proliferation with the provision of metabolic substrates required for this process.
Publications
Moncada is the author of more than 500 peer-reviewed papers and highly cited reviews, including
Ferreira, S. H.; Moncada, S.; Vane, J. R. (1971). "Indomethacin and Aspirin abolish Prostaglandin Release from the Spleen". Nature New Biology. 231 (25): 237–9. doi:10.1038/newbio231237a0. PMID5284362.
Needleman, P.; Moncada, S.; Bunting, S.; Vane, J. R.; Hamberg, M.; Samuelsson, B. (1976). "Identification of an enzyme in platelet microsomes which generates thromboxane A2 from prostaglandin endoperoxides". Nature. 261 (5561): 558–60. Bibcode:1976Natur.261..558N. doi:10.1038/261558a0. PMID934294. S2CID4177705.
Moncada, S.; Gryglewski, R.; Bunting, S.; Vane, J. R. (1976). "An enzyme isolated from arteries transforms prostaglandin endoperoxides to an unstable substance that inhibits platelet aggregation". Nature. 263 (5579): 663–5. Bibcode:1976Natur.263..663M. doi:10.1038/263663a0. PMID802670. S2CID4279030.
Moncada is interested in medical education and in the development of science and technology in Latin America. He has been a consultant of the Panamerican Health Organization (PAHO, the regional office of the WHO) and in recent years he founded Honduras Global – an international network of experts involved in supporting the development of Honduras.
He has received honorary degrees from more than twenty universities, including Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City (1995); Degree of Doctor "Honoris Causa" of the University Pierre & Marie Curie, Paris, France (1997) and Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (2000).
He was married to Dorys Lemus, a biochemistry teacher at the Medical School in El Salvador. The marriage resulted in two children, Claudia Regina (born 1966 – a G.P. who lives in London) and Salvador Ernesto (1972–1982). On 5 April 1998, in London, he married Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium. They have two children, Alexandra Leopoldine (born in London on 4 August 1998) and Leopoldo Daniel (born in London on 21 May 2001), and two grandchildren.
^De Berrazueta, J. R. (1999). "The Nobel Prize for nitric oxide. The unjust exclusion of Dr. Salvador Moncada". Revista espanola de cardiologia. 52 (4): 221–6. doi:10.1016/s0300-8932(99)74902-x. PMID10217961.
^Eldridge, S. "Paper prizes". The Guardian, Tuesday 20 November 2001
