My last two posts have been about former Austrian POW Hans Kopera, who became a successful doctor and professor at the University of Graz in Austria after World War II.  Part of that story also involved Dr. Kopera's research relationship and friendship with Dr. Charles Kochakian who accompanied Dr. Kopera to Aliceville in 1975 to revisit the POW camp.  Thanks to The UAB Archives, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, I now have the following additional information about Dr. Kochakian and his significant research career:

Dr. Kochakian was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, one of five children of Armenian parents.  As a graduate student at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in 1935, he began to study the endocrine glands at a time when the medical field of endocrinology did not exist.  He built his own research equipment and made a milestone discovery–the connection between the male hormone testosterone and muscle mass.

During World War II, the government needed a method of postsurgical care that would help wounded soldiers recover more quickly.  Dr. Kochakian participated in a conference that studied the best ways to use his discoveries to speed the healing process for these soldiers.  As a result, drug companies began to produce a host of steroid products that became a standard component of postsurgical care.

Of course, this discovery eventually made its way to competitive athletics where football players, swimmers and track and field runners began to use the resulting anabolic steroids in order to become strong, faster, and tougher. 

Dr. Kochakian's career at UAB, which is home to an internationally recognized medical research program, began in 1957.  In additiion to his work with anabolic steroids, Kochakian also became known for his work on the relationship between growth hormone and cancer.  His colleague, Dr. Samuel Barker, said of him, "He did the pioneering work.  It laid the foundation for all the subsequent work relating to male sex hormones."

Dr. Kochakian's son pointed out that, as the son of late 19th century and early 20th century immigrants in the United States, his father had to overcome discrimination as part of America's "melting pot" society.  He proudly described his father as "the classic success story."

The information above appeared in an article in The Birmingham News, "Medical research pioneer dies," by Laura Tutor.