Distinguished Alumni 2007: Henry U. Bryant

Henry U. Bryant

Dr. Henry Bryant was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. Upon the advice of his neighborhood pharmacist, he decided to pursue a career in pharmacy and enrolled in the Purdue Pre-Pharmacy program in 1976, graduating with a B.S. in Pharmacy in 1981. The strong baccalaureate program in pharmaceutical sciences he experienced captured his interests, leading to his enrolling in the Pharmacology and Toxicology Graduate School at Purdue. There, he worked under the guidance of Dr. George K.W. Yim to earn an M.S. degree in 1984 for his work on the effects of endogenous opioids on feeding behavior. Subsequent work under Yim studying effects of morphine on cholesterol metabolism earned Henry his Ph.D. in 1986.

Following his graduate work at Purdue, Dr. Bryant was granted a National Research Council Fellowship to pursue post-doctoral studies at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, DC with Dr. John Holaday. While at Walter Reed, Dr. Bryant conducted some of the first studies to demonstrate the immunosuppressive effects associated with chronic morphine exposure in mice. With Dr. Holaday, he also developed a broader interest in neural-immune interactions and conducted some of the early work studying neurodegenerative effects associated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

In 1988, Dr. Bryant joined the Lilly Research Laboratories in Indianapolis and developed research programs focused on employing pharmacologic strategies to understand diseases of bone and connective tissue, with the ultimate goal of developing novel therapeutic agents for pathological conditions associated with the aging process. At Lilly he conducted some of the early work demonstrating the tissue selective effects of raloxifene (Evista), mimicking the beneficial action of estrogen on bone, but blocking undesired effects of estrogen in the mammary and uterus. He was senior author on the first paper describing this profile for raloxifene, coining the categorical term, selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM).

In 1996 he was promoted to Head of Skeletal Pharmacology at Lilly and led a team responsible for the pre-clinical drug discovery research that led to the registration of teriparatide (Fortéo), which today is the only bone anabolic agent available for patients with severe osteoporosis. His group also brought forward arzoxifene, a third generation SERM currently in phase 3 clinical trials for osteoporosis by Lilly. He was named Director of Bone Metabolism Research in 1998 leading a group that has since moved multiple additional molecules into clinical evaluation for a variety of conditions, including: osteoporosis, frailty, menopausal symptoms, uterine fibroids, rheumatoid arthritis, muscle atrophy and benign prostatic hypertrophy.

Dr. Bryant now serves as the Chief Scientific Officer of Musculoskeletal Research in the Lilly Research Laboratories and co-chair of a Therapeutic Steering Panel responsible for musculoskeletal drug discovery and development to product at Lilly. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and review articles, along with 20 book chapters and monographs. He has spoken at numerous international scientific conferences on his drug discovery research efforts and is an inventor on over 80 U.S. patents. He is a member of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, the Endocrine Society, the Society for Neuroscience and the Indiana Academy of Science. He has served as a member of the Drugs of Abuse/AIDS study section of the NIH and is a reviewer for a number of pharmacology and physiology scientific journals.

Henry's wife of 26 years is Sherri, whom he met in the Pharmacy Building Room 172! Sherri has been a licensed pharmacist for each of those 26 years, but more recently has focused her energy as a science teacher for inner city middle school students at St. Joan of Arc School in Indianapolis. Henry and Sherri have been blessed with three children: Jennifer, Laura and John. Jennifer is now in her 3rd professional year of the Purdue PharmD program, and Laura is in her second year at Purdue with hopes of entering the BSPS program next year. John is a junior at Indianapolis Bishop Chatard High School (and getting heavy doses of brainwashing at home to keep the family Purdue tradition alive). Henry enjoys playing basketball and softball and coaching youth basketball, baseball and softball. He also enjoys reading historical novels and evening walks with Sherri and the family otterhound, Sam.