24th Annual George Adrouny Lecture
Friday, April 17th, 2026
The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology will present the 24th Annual George Adrouny Memorial Lectureship on Friday, April 17th, 10:00 a.m. This year's lecture will be in the Hutchinson Memorial Gallery and Auditorium, 1430 Tulane Avenue. The title of this talk is "Function and dysfunction of p53 tumor suppressor pathway."
The 2026 featured speaker is Guillermina (Gigi) Lozano, Endowed Hubert L. Olive Stringer Distinguished Chair in Oncology in Honor of Sue Gribble Stringer, Division of Discovery Science, Department of Genetics, UT MD Anderson in Houston, Texas. Dr. Lozano is a renowned geneticist recognized for her studies of the p53 tumor suppressor pathway. This pathway is undermined in a large percent of human cancers via mutations and deletions of p53. Her laboratory identified a transcriptional activation function for p53. Using mouse models, her team characterized the physiological importance of Mdm2 and Mdm4 proteins as potent inhibitors of p53. The Mdm proteins are over expressed in many cancers that lack p53 mutations presenting an alternate mechanism of eliminating p53 activity. Other mouse models inheriting the most common p53 mutations revealed gain-of-function phenotypes that drive metastases.
Dr. Lozano received her BS degree in Biology and Mathematics, Magna Cum Laude, at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She completed graduate studies at Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Arnold Levine at Princeton University.
Dr. Lozano was hired as an Instructor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 1987 and quickly rose through the ranks to her current position as professor and chair of the department of Genetics. Dr. Lozano is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has received the Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Lectureship and the Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Lectureship awards both from the American Association for Cancer Research. She is also the recipient of distinguished alumni awards from both her undergraduate and graduate alma maters.
The History of the George Adrouny Memorial Lecture
As a memorial to their late father, the distinguished former Professor of Biochemistry, George A. Adrouny, a memorial lectureship was established in 2000 by his children and family to honor his memory. The Department of Biochemistry, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine, is proud to host this annual event.
George A. Adrouny was born of Armenian parents in Turkey on April 2nd, 1912. He received his BA in chemistry in 1934, and a degree in pharmaceutical chemistry in 1940, both from the American University of Beirut. While working as a freelance pharmacist, he also taught chemistry and biology at Aleppo College in Aleppo, Syria. In 1951, a Smith-Mundt Fellowship permitted him to begin graduate studies at Emery University where he earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1954. After two years as a Research Associate in Biochemistry at Emory, he was recruited to the Tulane University School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, where he ultimately rose to the rank of full professor.
Dr. Adrouny’s research interests were diverse. His identification and characterization of the fire ant venom was published in 1959 in Science magazine. He also published papers in the areas of cardiac glycogen metabolism, intestinal dextran-hydrolyzing enzymes, biochemical effects of growth hormone and the phylogenic and evolutionary importance of hickory nut and pecan oils.
He headed the Foreign Fellows Program, specifically created for foreign graduate students studying at Tulane. He also was placed in charge of the Medical Biochemistry course, a post that he enjoyed until his retirement in 1981. In recognition of his devotion to the organization and teaching of this course, the Owl Club gave him a certificate of recognition in 1981. He was named Professor Emeritus following his retirement from the Medical School.
Dr. Adrouny was a member of the Society of Sigma Xi, the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Chemical Society and he was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. He was listed in the Who’s Who of American Education in 1967-68.
In 1987, a few years after the death of Alice K. Adrouny, his wife of 38 years, Dr. Adrouny moved to Maryland to be near family where he lived until his death on November 24, 1999.
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