Nathan S. Kline

Nathan Schellenberg Kline, M.D. (22 March 1916 – 11 February 1983) was an American scientist, researcher in the field of psychology and psychiatrist best known for his work with psychopharmacologic drugs.

A graduate of the New York University School of Medicine, he is the only two-time winner of the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, an award sometimes referred to as "America's Nobel Prize". Kline was best known for his pioneering work with psychopharmacologic drugs. In 1952, he started a research unit at Rockland State Hospital, NY (later the Rockland Psychiatric Center). At that time, the national inpatient population in public hospitals was approaching the half-million mark. Traditional therapies seemed inadequate to treat the growing number of mentally ill patients.

Kline and his colleagues took the unusual step of investigating reserpine, a derivative of Rauwolfia serpentina. Rauwolfia was commonly used in India to treat many physical complaints, and reserpine was being used in the US to treat high blood pressure. For two years, trials with hospitalized patients found that approximately 70% of those suffering from schizophrenia were markedly relieved from their symptoms. This work earned Kline, along with his colleagues, his first Lasker Award.

Encouraged by his success with this tranquilizer, Kline investigated the properties of antidepressants. Within a year, patients in psychiatric centers throughout the US were receiving antidepressant medication. In 1964, Kline earned his second Lasker Award for the study of the introduction and use of iproniazid, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, in the treatment of severe depression. This successful use of drugs for two major categories of psychiatric illness led to the release of thousands who were able to rejoin society. Kline's work has been acknowledged as a major factor in opening a new era in psychiatry: psychopharmacology.

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