The Editors
H. Gerhard Vogel received his license in pharmacy at the University of Erlangen
and his license in medicine as well as his doctorate in medicine at the University of
Tübingen, Germany. After working in the Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Tübingen and as a physician in a city hospital, he joined
the pharmaceutical company, Hoechst AG. First, he worked in general pharmacology, then he became head of endocrinology, head of the department of pharmacology, and finally director of preclinical evaluation and development of Hoechst AG.
In these positions, he cooperated with many research laboratories worldwide, especially in the USA, Great Britain, France, Japan, India and China. In 1967, he
completed his habilitation for pharmacology and toxicology at the Philipps University, Marburg, and was later nominated as honorary professor at the University
of Marburg and at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.
At both universities, he lectured to students of medicine, dentistry, and human
biology. He published many original papers, more than 100 on biomechanics and
the biochemistry of connective tissue. In his manifold positions, he obtained a
thorough insight into the broad spectrum of pharmacological assays to detect and
to evaluate potential drugs. This provided him with the expertise to write this book
together with W. H. Vogel, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and several
colleagues from industry and academia.
Wolfgang H. Vogel received his Ph. D. in organic chemistry at the Institute of
Technology in Stuttgart, Germany. During his postdoctoral fellowships in the Departments of Pharmacology at the Colleges of Medicine in Syracuse and Chicago,
USA, he acquainted himself with pharmacology and toxicology. He worked in
biochemical pharmacology at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda for 2
years. In 1967, he joined the Department of Pharmacology of Jefferson Medical
College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He rose from associate
professor over full professor to acting chairman of the department. Due to his interest and research in psychiatry, the title of professor of psychiatry and human behavior was awarded to him. In 1994, he was briefly acting chairman of the Institute
of Toxicology at the University of Marburg, Germany. He lectures to medical and
graduate students, residents and physicians during postgraduate seminars and has
published widely in the field of stress, and the biochemical and genetic basis of
behavior and addictions. His academic background, combined with the extensive
industrial experience of H. G. Vogel, has greatly benefitted the completion of this
book.