Our History

The Catecholamine Society is an international organization consisting of scientists interested in all aspects of catecholamine research. The founding members of the Catecholamine society in 1968 included J. Axelrod, E. Braunwald, R. Crout, U.S. von Euler, W.M. Manger, G. Nahas, S. Udenfriend, K. Wakim, and H. Weil-Melherbe. Originally, annual meetings of Society members were held in conjunction with the FASEB meetings and were centered around a dinner and a featured talk, and were eventually enlivened by the Society song. An excellent account of the early days of the Society was published in TiPS in 1989.

From 1991-2006, the annual dinners held during the Experimental Biology meetings have included presentations of the Axelrod Medal, a prestigious award honoring distinguished investigators for their contributions to the field of catecholamine research. Beginning in 2007, the Axelrod Medal became the Julius Axelrod Award of American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. The recipient of this award in any given year presents an informal talk on their career at the at the Catecholamine society dinner held during the meeting Experimental Biology meeting. The following year the recipient presents a formal talk at the Experimental Biology meeting with an accompanying symposium.

Members of the Catecholamine society also receive a regular newsletter with information on scientific meetings, news of members and any other matters of interest to those working on catecholamines.

An Article Celebrating the Catecholamine Society's 20th Anniversary

Dixon, WR And CR Creveling. 1989. Archives of the Catecholamine society, twenty years on. TIPS Vol. 10. Pp. 100-2.