Dr. Kenneth E. Moore
Dr. Kenneth E. Moore, 90, died on Jan. 9, 2024, at his home in Ogden, Utah.
In 1966, Dr. Moore was among the first professors in Michigan State University’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and later served as its chair for 14 years. As professor emeritus, he continued to teach at MSU until his retirement in 2001. He began his academic career as an associate professor in the medical school at Dartmouth College. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in pharmacy from the University of Alberta and his PhD in pharmacology from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Moore’s groundbreaking neuropsychopharmacology research was supported continuously from 1962-2000 by grants from the National Institutes of Health and in 1971 he co-authored one of the first psychopharmacology textbooks, “Introduction to Psychopharmacology.” He was among the first researchers to identify the neurotransmitter dopamine.
His research on brain catecholamine systems have included pioneering studies on the development of denervation supersensitivity in the central nervous system and on the biochemical mechanisms of action of psychomotor stimulants such as amphetamine. His work has focused on hypothalamic dopamine systems, characterizing the responses of these neurons to pharmacological, endocrinological, and environmental manipulations. Using neurochemical methods that he and his colleagues developed or refined, Dr. Moore demonstrated that hypothalamic dopaminergic neurons differ in many fundamental ways from the “classic” nigrostriatal and mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons.
Dr. Moore served as president of ASPET in 1998. Dr. Moore was honored with ASPET’s Torald Sollman award in 2005 and in 2019, he joined the inaugural class of Fellows of ASPET.
He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Barry Moore; son, Grant Moore; daughter Sandi (Stan) Booth; and daughter Lynn Moore.
