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Pinckney J. Harman Memorial Lectures

For 20 years, Pinckney J. Harman was the first Apical Dendrite of the Cajal Club. "During those nineteen years as Apical Dendrite, Pink was the Cajal Club, holding it together, nurturing it, and helping it to mature (Excerpt from Dr. George Clark)." The Cajal Club used to have an annual banquet with a featured dinner speaker. The Pinckney J. Harman Memorial Lecturer was a continuation of this banquet speaker. Elizabeth C. Crosby was one of the initial banquet speakers, and she gave the first Pinckney J. Harman Memorial Lecture in 1969. In the past 20, this impressive list of speakers has featured several members of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (Drs. Bloom, Gage, Kaas, McEwen, Rakic, Shatz, Swanson, Roberts, Jones and Walsh), one member of the Institute of Medicine (Dr. Rubenstein) and three Nobel Laureates (Drs. Sakmann, Moser and Moser).

This is a portrait of Pickney J. Harman in his lab.

Pinckney J. Harman

Professor Pinckney Harman, a notable and active member of the Cajal Club, was renowned for his extensive contributions to the field of Anatomy. An alumnus of Georgetown University, he obtained a B.S. and M.S. in 1934 and 1935 respectively. Between 1934 and 1937, he worked at Georgetown's Department of Biology before joining Yale as a Knight Fellow, earning his Ph.D. in Anatomy in 1941. Harman continued his career at Georgetown before moving to New York University in 1946, progressing from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor. His interests lay heavily in comparative neurology, specifically nuclear masses differences in the primate brain, and he began his exploration into genetic disorders of the neuromuscular apparatus at the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory in Maine. In 1956, he became the Professor of Anatomy and Chairman at Seton Hall College of Medicine, later the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry. Harman received distinguished awards like the John Carroll Award (1959) and the William Gaston Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Education (1964). 

Left, Pinckney J. Harman, MD. Image courtesy of The Lillian and Clarence de la Chapelle Medical Archives at NYU.

A_Elizabeth_Caroline_Crosby_(1888-1983)_Ausschnitt.jpg

Previous Awardees:​

  • 2024-2025, Michelle Monje

  • 2023-2024, Barbara Finlay

  • 2022-2023, Tirin Moore

  • 2021-2022, Paola Arlotta

  • 2020-2021 Liqun Luo

  • 2019-20, Linda Richards

  • 2018-19, Jeff Lichtman

  • 2017-18, Luis de Puelles

  • 2016-17, Arturo Alvarez-Buylla

  • 2015-16, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser

  • 2014-15, Javier DeFelipe

  • 2013-14, John Rubenstein

  • 2012-13, Pasko Rakic

  • 2011-12, Larry Swanson

  • 2010-11, Christopher Walsh

  • 2009-10, Arnold Kriegstein

  • 2008-09, Giacomo Rizzolatti

  • 2007-08, Jonathan Horton

  • 2006-07, Ranulfo Romo

  • 2005-06, Bert Sakmann

  • 2004-05, Mark D'Esposito

  • 2003-04, Not given

  • 2002-03, Oswald Steward

  • 2001-02, Carla J Shatz

  • 2000-01, Fred H Gage

  • 1999-00, Floyd E Bloom

  • 1998-99, Bruce S McEwen

  • 1997-98, Ray W. Guillery

  • 1996-97, Jon H. Kaas

  • 1995-96, Marcus E. Raichle

  • 1994-95, Nicole M LeDouarin

  • 1993-94, Ford F Ebner

  • 1992-93, Gary W Van Hoesen

  • 1991-92, Henry J Ralston III

  • 1990-91, Clifford B Saper

  • 1989-90, Alan Peters

  • 1988-89, Edward G Jones

  • 1987-88, Pasquale P Graziadei

  • 1986-87, Thomas A Woolsey

  • 1985-86, Pasko Rakic

  • 1984-85, Constantino Sotelo

  • 1983-84, Harvey Karten

  • 1982-83, Richard P Bunge

  • 1981-82, Bernice Grafstein

  • 1980-81, HGJM Kuypers

  • 1979-80, Fred A Mettler

  • 1978-79, Carl Cotman

  • 1977-78, Eugene Roberts

  • 1976-77, Clement A Fox

  • 1975-76, Vernon Mountcastle

  • 1974-75, Lennart Heimer

  • 1973-74, Rene Couteaux

  • 1972-73, Richard L Sidman

  • 1971-72, John Szentagothai

  • 1970-71, JZ Young

  • 1969-70, Antonio Villasana

  • 1968-69, Elizabeth C. Crosby, 1st Pinckney J. Harman Lecturer

  • 1967-68, Adolf Hopf, 12th Banquet speaker

  • 1966-67, RD Lockhart, 11th Banquet speaker

  • 1965-66, Walle JH Nauta, 10th Banquet speaker

  • 1963-64, Murray L Barr, 9th Banquet speaker

  • 1961-62, E Horne Craigie, 8th Banquet speaker

  • 1959-60, ST Bok, 7th Banquet speakers

  • 1957-58, Ernst & Berta Sharrer, 6th Banquet speakers

  • 1955-56, Elizabeth C. Crosby, 5th Banquet speaker

  • 1954-55, AT Rasmussen, 4th Banquet speaker

  • 1953-54, J Walter Wilson, 3rd Banquet speaker

  • 1952-53, James W Papez, 2nd Banquet speaker

  • 1951-52, Lorente de No, 1st Banquet speaker

Background image Elizabeth C. Crosby, two time banquet speaker and 1st Pinckney J. Harman Memorial Lecturer. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution, United States.

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