Seymour S. Kety

Seymour S. Kety (August 25, 1915 – May 25, 2000) was an American neuroscientist who was credited with making modern psychiatry a rigorous and heuristic branch of medicine by applying basic science to the study of human behavior in health and disease. After Kety died, his colleague Louis Sokoloff noted that: "He discovered a method for measuring blood flow in the brain, was the first scientific director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and produced the most-definitive evidence for the essential involvement of genetic factors in schizophrenia."

Childhood Semyour S. Kety was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915. Raised in a humble family household in Philadelphia, Kety was intellectually challenged and stimulated. As a child, Kety was involved in a car accident that injured his foot. Though he could still walk, Kety remained slightly physically impaired.

Schooling

For his education, Kety stayed in his home town of Philadelphia. Kety attended Central High School in Philadelphia and found himself excelling greatly in chemistry. Running his own experiments in his homemade laboratory, Kety found a passion for chemistry. Throughout high school, he pursued his interest in the physical sciences and also gained knowledge of both Greek and Latin. Kety attended college and medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1940. He did a rotating internship at the Philadelphia General Hospital, but that was the extent of his clinical training. After finishing his internship, Kety went into research. Kety's discoveries have been used and further developed into new theories.

Seymour Kety's legacy

Kety had three major contributions in three different areas. In psychiatry, Kety discovered the strong link between genetics and the staggering disease of schizophrenia. As a physiologist, Seymour studied cerebral circulation and made advancements in the field. Kety's work with neuroscience was also a large accomplishment. the United States National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

In 1981, Kety became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.

He never trained in psychiatry although he changed its course. In 1986, he was awarded the Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience. In 1988 Kety and Louis Sokoloff were jointly awarded the NAS Award in the Neurosciences from the National Academy of Sciences. Kety also received awards from some of the most prestigious scientific groups, including the American Society of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Association.