Dr. Harold Hardman, former Chairman of Pharmacology, dies at age 80

July 17, 2008 College News - Harold F. Hardman, MD, PhD, former Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, winner of the 1985 MCW Distinguished Service Award and a leader in the field of medical education and research, died in Eden Prairie, Minn., on July 14. He was 80 years old.

Dr. Hardman began as an Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Marquette University School of Medicine (which later became the Medical College of Wisconsin) in 1960, and was promoted to Chairman and Professor in 1962. He served as Chairman until 1988, when he retired.

As Chairman of Pharmacology, he launched various teaching and research programs, including a graduate program in pharmacology, a clinical pharmacology program, teaching programs for pharmacists and nursing students, and an educational exchange program with the University del Valle, Cali, in Columbia, South America. He was appointed Director of the first NIH-supported MD-PhD program in 1961. The program was the forerunner of the College’s Medical Scientist Training Program initiated in 1964.

Early in his career, Dr. Hardman gained notoriety for a classified research contract he had with the Army Chemical Center in which he defined the pharmacological properties of a series of tetrahydrocannabinols (synthetic marijuana derivatives) that produced a profound central nervous system depression that resembled hibernation. The study was completed in 1960, but could not be published until 1970 because the Army had classified the results as top secret.

Dr. Hardman obtained his first National Institutes of Health grant in 1958 and studied the effects of drugs on the cardiovascular system until his retirement. At the time, he was recognized by the College for holding the longest continuously funded R01 grant at MCW.

Before coming to Marquette, Dr. Hardman was Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan Medical School. He received his MS in pharmacology from the University of Illinois in 1951, and his PhD and MD from the University of Michigan in 1954 and 1958, respectively.

Colleagues remember Dr. Hardman for his professional successes, but also for his lighter side.

“Harry was a very upbeat person and had a great sense of humor,” said Garrett J. Gross, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, who worked with Dr. Hardman. “You could always count on him for a joke or two every day he was in the department. We really missed this trait when he retired.”