Frank Chytil (1924-2010) biographical file

Collection

Identifier: EBL-1095

Staff Only

Abstract

Biographical file includes academic articles, numerous newspaper clippings, several photographs, curriculum vitae, many press releases, journal articles, slides, reprints, and other biographical information.

Dates

1983 - 2010

Notes about Access to this Collection

All collections are subject to applicable VUMC privacy and confidentiality policies.

Reproduction Rights

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Historical or Biographical Note

A native of Prague, Czechoslovakia, Chytil completed his doctoral degree in 1952 from the School of Chemical Technology in Prague. In 1964, after completing his postdoctoral training at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, Dr. Chytil returned briefly to Czechoslovakia. He immigrated to the United States in 1966.

Chytil came to Vanderbilt University as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in 1969, transferring to the Department of Biochemistry in 1973. He became a full Professor of Biochemistry in 1975 and General Foods Distinguished Professor in Nutrition in 1984.

For nearly 30 years, Dr. Chytil's research focused on deciphering how vitamin A works at the molecular level. In 1983, he and his colleague, David Ong, Ph.D., were awarded the Osborne-Mendel Award of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences for their work on vitamin A metabolism. In 1993, Dr. Chytil received the Lederle Award in Human Nutrition of the American Institute of Nutrition for his research on the physiological role of vitamin A in tissue development and maintenance, particularly in the lungs.

Dr. Chytil retired from Vanderbilt in 2000.