SAN ANTONIO – Two scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center have made Thomson Reuters' 2014 list of the world's most influential scientific minds.
Russel J. Reiter, Ph.D., and Charles L. Bowden, M.D., work at UTHSC's School of Medicine.
Reiter, professor in the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, is one of the world's leading experts on the sleep-regulating hormone melatonin, the pineal gland and circadian rhythms. He is recognized in the Biology & Biochemistry category.
Reiter studies the effects of free radicals on disease processes and aging. He is particularly interested in defining the role of oxygen derivatives in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, and in studying the function of the derivatives in the degeneration of neurons in the central nervous system.
Bowden, clinical professor in the departments of psychiatry and pharmacology who occupies the Nancy U.Karren Endowed Chair in Psychiatry, is an internationally respected authority on bipolar disorder and mood-stabilizing medications. He is recognized in the Psychiatry/Psychology category.
Bowden's research has defined the symptoms and biology of bipolar disorders, and he has contributed major new understandings about the effectiveness and biochemical and physiological effects of mood-stabilizing drugs. He has studied many of the newest treatments for bipolar disorder in tightly designed, randomized, controlled clinical trials that have allowed their approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and wide dissemination to patients.
Reiter and Bowden published the greatest number of highly cited papers in 21 broad fields between 2002 and 2012. The number of times a scientist is cited by others in publications is a key indicator of a scientist's influence in his or her field.