Sandor Szabo, MD, MSc, PhD, MPH, DSc (h.c.)
Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Education
- MD, University of Belgrade Medical School
- MSc, University of Montreal Medical Faculty
- PhD, University of Montreal Medical Faculty
- MPH, Harvard School of Public Health
Bio
Sandor Szabo, obtained his PhD in the department of Prof. Hans Selye, the ‘father of biologic stress’ at the University of Montreal. Subsequently, he completed 4-years of pathology residency at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School where he remained for an additional 17 years as an assistant professor, followed by associate professorship of pathology, until he was invited to join the Department of Pathology at School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine (UCI), as a professor of pathology & pharmacology. His hospital duties included being chief of Pathology & Laboratory Service for 20 years at the VA Medical Center (teaching base of UCI) , Log Beach, CA, during which he also covered the duties of chief of (medical) staff for 12 years. He joined the School of Pharmcy of AUHS in 2019, as a professor of pharmaceutical sciences. He has more than 4 decades of accomplishments in investigating stress-related diseases, especially gastrointestinal (GI) ulcers, and endocrine diseases. So far, he has 235 original publications, 71 review articles and 40 book chapters. He was also teaching medical students and residents many subjects in these diseases, especially their pathologic and pharmacologic aspects, at Harvard Medical School and UCI.
Subject Matter Expertise
Pharmacology; Pathology; Gastroenterology; Endocrinology; Public health
Selected Publications
Szabo S. et al. Long COVID has variable incidence and clinical presentations: our 6‑country collaborative study. Inflammopharmacology, Published online Feb. 21,2025, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-025-01640-1
Schloss JV, Szabo S. On the origin of cysteamine induced duodenal cytotoxicity and type II ferroptosis. Inflammopharmacology. 2024; 32 (6): 3739-3744. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-024-01551-7
Szabo S, Bekesevych A, Zayachkivska O. Integrative medicine – the future of healthcare? Med. Sci. 2024; 76 (2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.25040/ntsh2024.02.24
Szabo S, Zayachkivska O, Hussain A, Muller V. What is really ‘Long COVID’? Inflammopharmacology. 2023, 31, 551-557. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-023-01194-0
Szabo S. The post‐COVID stress syndrome: From the three‐stage stress response of Hans Selye to COVID‐19. Inflammopharmacology. 2023, 31, 2799-2806. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-023-01179-z
Szabo S, Gyires K, Zayachkivska O. Introduction to the ‘long COVID’ special issue. Inflammopharmacology. 2023, 28:1-2.
Szabo S, Zayachkivska O. Creativity and originality are key elements in medical research: Recent illustration by the 2023 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman. Med. Sci. 2023, 72, (2). https://doi.org/10.25040/ntsh
Szabo S. COVID-19: New disease and chaos with panic, associated with stress. Med. Sci., 2020; 59: 41-62. https://doi.org/10.25040/ntsh2020.01.14
Szabo S, Tache Y, Somogyi A. The legacy of Hans Selye and the origins of stress research: A retrospective 75 years after his landmark “letter” in Nature. Stress, 2012;15:472-478. https://doi.org/10.3109/10253890.2012.710919
Deng X, Szabo S, Khomenko T, Tolstanova G, Paunovic B, French SW, Sandor Z. Novel pharmacologic approaches to the prevention and treatment of ulcerative colitis. Curr. Pharm. Des. 2013; 19:17-28. https://doi.org/10.2174/13816128130105
Glavin G, Szabo S. Experimental gastric mucosal injury: laboratory models reveal mechanisms of pathogenesis and new therapeutic strategies. FASEB J. 1992; 6:825-831. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.6.3.1740232
Szabo S, Nagy L, Plebani M. Glutathione, protein sulfhydryls and cysteine proteases in gastric mucosal injury and protection. Clinica Chimica Acta 1992; 206:95-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/0009-8981(92)90010-n
Crum R, Szabo S, Folkman J. A new class of steroids inhibits angiogenesis in the presence of heparin or a heparin fragment. Science 1985; 230:1375-1378. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.2416056
Szabo S, Trier JS, Frankel PW. Sulfhydryl compounds may mediate cytoprotection. Science 1981; 214:200-202. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.7280691
Szabo S. Dopamine disorder in duodenal ulceration. Lancet 1979; 2:880-882. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(79)92690-4
Szabo S, Horvath E, Kovacs K, Larsen PR. Pyrazole-induced thyroid necrosis: a distinct organ lesion. Science 1978; 199:1209-1210. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.628835
Lichtenbrger LM, Szabo S, Trier JS, Reynolds ES. Duodenal ulcerogens, cysteamine and propionitrile, stimulate serum gastrin levels in the rat. Gastroenterology 1977; 73:1305-1308. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-5085(19)31505-7
Selye H, Szabo S. Experimental model for production of perforating duodenal ulcers by cysteamine in the rat. Nature 1973; 244:458-459. https://doi.org/10.1038/244458a0
Research Interests
Molecular & cellular mechanisms of GI ulceration; Stress-realated diseases, Preventive
medicine; Long COVID
