Arthur Horwich came to Brown in Fall 1969 and joined the Master of Medical Sciences (MMS) program. As a second-year student, he became interested in Frank Rothman’s biochemistry course and joined Mike Czech and John Fain in the Fain Fat Cell Factory in J. Walter Wilson Lab to try to understand metabolic aspects of brown fat thermogenesis. Horwich’s MMS class was the first to pursue preclinical and clinical training through Brown’s new M.D. program, and he graduated with the first cohort in 1975. 

In this talk, Horwich will share the story of how his Brown education and subsequent pediatric training and fellowships equipped him to make a bedside to bench discovery: first the discovery of a genetic mutant that could not correctly fold proteins and then the identification and structural analysis of the double-ring protein “machine” responsible for the mutation. Horwich will reflect on his career in medicine, discuss the direction of medical education and talk about scientific/medical advances we can hope for.

Brown is celebrating 50 years of impact in medical education and research, the contributions of alumni and faculty in Rhode Island and around the world, and the promising future ahead for The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.