World Health Organization
What was the name of the employer Roy Walford work for from 1969 to 1984?
Roy Walford Roy Lee Walford , M . D . ( June 29 , 1924 – April 27 , 2004 ) was a professor of pathology at University of California , Los Angeles School of Medicine , a leading advocate of calorie restriction for life extension and health improvement , and a crew member of Biosphere 2 . Career highlights . Walford is credited with significantly furthering aging research by his discovery that laboratory mice , when fed a diet that restricted their caloric intake by 50% yet maintaining nutritional requirements , almost doubled their expected life span . He received his medical degree from the University of Chicago in 1948 . He completed his internship at Gorgas Hospital , Panama , and served his residency at the V.A . Medical Center in Los Angeles . He then served two years in the US Air Force during the Korean War . Walford joined the faculty at the University of California at Los Angeles ( UCLA ) in 1954 . He became a Professor of Pathology at the UCLA School of Medicine in 1966 . He became Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine , Emeritus , for UCLA , when he left to join the crew of Biosphere 2 in 1991 . While at UCLA , Walford served in the following roles : - Director of the Blood Bank and of the Hematology Division of the Clinical Laboratories ( 1959–1980 ) - Director of the School of Medical Technology ( 1962–1972 ) - Chairman of the Vivarium Committee ( 1965–1968 ) In addition to his service at UCLA , he was an expert advisor in immunology for the World Health Organization from 1969 to 1984 , was a senatorial delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in 1981 , and a member of the National Institute on Aging . His honors and awards include : - Levine Award of the American Society of Clinical Pathology - Research Award of the American Aging Association - Kleemeier Award from the Gerontological Society of America - Henderson Award from the American Geriatrics Society - 1998 Longevity Prize of the Foundation IPSEN - The Senator Alan Cranston Award - Infinity Award of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine - Asteroid #4629 was named after him by its discoverer ( E . Helene ) in 1986 Walford and his work were featured in print in dozens of articles in popular publications such as Omni , Discover , and Scientific American . During his life he also made dozens of featured appearances on various television shows . Roulette winnings . In 1947 , while on vacation during medical school , Walford and Albert Hibbs , a mathematics graduate student , used statistical analysis of biased roulette wheels to break the bank in Reno . They tracked the results of the spins , determined which wheels were biased , and then bet heavily on the ones which were unbalanced . The casinos eventually realized that Walford and his friend knew what they were doing and threw them out . A Life Magazine photographer captured the pair drinking milk and counting their chips in a photograph published in the December 8 , 1947 issue . Their methods were also mentioned in the roulette book The Eudaemonic Pie by Thomas Bass . Different sources have the pair winning anywhere from $6,500 to $42,000 . The high end is more likely , as Walford was reputed to have paid for part of his medical school education and a house from his winnings . The pair also bought a yacht and sailed the Caribbean for over a year . Gerontix . In 1981 , Walford began a commercial collaboration with fellow researchers Richard Weindruch and Kathleen Yankee Hall , and her husband William Hall , a wealthy businessman . In her tribute after his death , Kathleen Hall wrote of Walford , we both threw in a few thousand dollars and started a small business together . Incorporated in California as Gerontix , the company was to sell supplements intended to improve health and increase life span . The first Gerontix product was butylated hydroxytoluene ( BHT ) , with lysine and zinc , which was sold in capsules and marketed as a treatment for herpes . Motivated by the success of the bestselling book , by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw , the group intended to sell a package of products , called MaxiLife , which would capitalize on the release of Walfords book , Maximum Life Span . It was expected that Walford , a highly publicized researcher , would experience the same success as Pearson and Shaw . Before Walfords book was published and Gerontix started to manufacture its coordinated products , the manufacturer Twin Laboratories ( Twinlab ) began to sell a multi-ingredient supplement called MaxiLIFE , which the owners of Gerontix discovered in November 1982 . Despite the potential for trademark conflict , the Gerontix group elected to proceed with plans to use the brand name MaxiLife . Twin Laboratories brought suit against Gerontix for trademark infringement , and the court issued a summary judgement in favor of Twin Laboratories on February 13 , 1984 . Before the resolution of the lawsuit , the Gerontix MaxiLife products were brought to market and sold poorly , partly because of the lackluster sales of Walfords book . Lack of success in federal court and in health food stores led to the demise of Gerontix . Gerontix subsequently brought suit for legal malpractice against the attorneys whom Gerontix had hired to obtain the trademark right to the name MaxiLife , but on February 17 , 1989 a summary judgement against Gerontix was entered by Los Angeles Superior Court judge Loren Miller , Jr . Gerontix eventually appealed the case to the California Supreme Court after losing an appeal in the California Court of Appeals . In Appendix B of Walfords Maximum Life Span he noted , Additional additives , such as antioxidants and some of the other materials Ive listed in Chapters 7 and 8 , can be obtained from Gerontix Biological Research Products... , but he did not disclose that he would profit from the sale of Gerontix products . The companys MaxiLife product brochure , which refers to Walford and his research , also makes no mention of his connection to Gerontix . Biosphere 2 . Walford was one of the eight “crew members” who were sealed inside Biosphere 2 where they lived from September 26 , 1991 to September 26 , 1993 . Walford served as the crews physician . During his stay in Biosphere 2 , the crew found that they could not grow as much food as anticipated , so Walford convinced the crew to follow his calorie restriction diet . In November of the first year the crew decided to open a cache of emergency food supplies grown outside of the bubble to supplement their meager diets . Lifes end . At age 79 , Roy Walford died of respiratory failure as a complication of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( ALS ) , commonly known as Lou Gehrigs disease . According to Walfords friend and colleague , Kathleen Hall , his diagnosis of ALS came as a result of her urging him to see a physician when she noticed the strangeness in Roys gait . She says that before his death Walford continued writing , taking courses on film production . He had me all over New York and in Dallas for just the right production shots . Meanwhile , Hall remembers that Roy and I together with his daughter , Lisa , and his friends exhausted all the literature , looking for a cure , a solution . I found myself scouting the alleys of Chinatown in New York searching out a particular mushroom , looking for the best grass to help him through the pain . Even before developing ALS , Walford was no stranger to grass . In his book Eternity Soup : Inside the Quest to End Aging , Greg Critser says that Walfords consumption of marijuana was legendary . Walford was survived by his three children , Peter , Morgan , and Lisa Walford . Their mother was Martha Sylvia Schwalb , to whom Walford was married for 20 years before divorcing in the 1970s . Published works . Walford authored several books , and set out his dietary beliefs in the bestseller Beyond the 120-Year Diet . In addition , he published at least 340 scientific papers , mainly focused on the biology of aging . Walford authored or co-authored the following books : External links . - UCLA “In Memoriam , Roy Walford , M.D.” tribute page , retrieved September 28 , 2005 - Dr . Walford’s website