Alexander George Karczmar, an American neuroscientist and academician, was born on May 9, 1917, in Warsaw, Poland. His parents were Stanislas Karczmar, a businessman, and Helena Karczmar-Billauer. Karczmar was naturalized as an American citizen in January 1946. His academic career culminated with 30 years tenure as Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Loyola University of Chicago Medical Center, and Director of its Institute for Mind, Drugs and Behavior. He is widely recognized for his experimental research, almost all of which is devoted to the cholinergic system, both central and peripheral, and its autonomic and mental functions, including its control of various human and animal behaviors. Since the 1970s he has explored the existence and the nature of the "self". He is now Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology at the Stritch School of Medicine.
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