Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame

Inducted 2017

Stephen Lawson was born in Pennsylvania and raised in a small seacoast town north of Boston. As a child, he spent summers at an Audubon day camp and on the Maine coast near the tidal pools that inspired Rachel Carson, a pioneering environmentalist. A graduate of Stanford University, Steve joined the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine in 1977 and worked with Linus Pauling on several projects.

As co-director of the Laboratory for Research in Gene Regulation (1986-1992), Steve developed two-dimensional gel electrophoresis technology for protein profiling to better understand cancer metastasis using a mouse melanoma model and biopsies of human ovarian carcinomas. He is an author or co-author of papers published in Journal of Virology, Carcinogenesis, Gynecologic Oncology, Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nutrition Research, Journal of Applied Nutrition, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and Journal of Anesthesia History, among others.

From 1988 to 1991, Steve served as executive assistant to the president, Emile Zuckerkandl, and, in 1991, as executive officer. In 1993 he was appointed chief executive officer and grappled with financial, legal, zoning, and other critical issues facing the Institute. He organized the move of the Institute to Oregon State University in 1996 and then served as LPI’s administrative officer and editor of the research newsletter.

Steve served on the steering and art committees for OSU’s Linus Pauling Science Center and was involved in LPI’s fund-raising and strategic, long-term planning. He served on the Select Advisory Committee for the Linus Pauling Exhibition, which was seen by millions of people worldwide over six years. He often gives lectures on orthomolecular medicine and Linus Pauling to graduate students and civic groups. Steve annotated and added an afterword to the 20th anniversary edition of Linus Pauling’s bestseller How to Live Longer and Feel Better and contributed a preface and appendix to the new 21st Century Edition of Cancer and Vitamin C by Ewan Cameron and Linus Pauling. He currently holds a courtesy appointment as an assistant professor in OSU’s Department of Biomedical Sciences.

Since Linus Pauling’s death in 1994, Steve has regularly attended the Orthomolecular Medicine Today Conference, bringing exciting updates from the LPI and facilitating the participation of many LPI faculty as speakers at OMT. Steve has been an indefatigable spokesman for Orthomolecular Medicine.