Portrait of Dr. Maren done by Sidney Diuguid
Dr. Thomas H. Maren was the first chairman of the Department
of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Florida. He came
to UF in 1955, shortly before the first medical school class entered
the University of Florida College of Medicine. He remained chairman
until 1978, and he continued to work as a graduate research professor
until his death on August 15, 1999. Dr. Maren was a devoted scientist
and teacher who was known for his love of both science and the humanities.
After coming to UF, Dr. Maren returned to earlier work
on carbonic anhydrase. Dr. Maren also conducted research in comparative
physiology at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory on the Maine
Coast. In the mid-1970s, Dr. Maren returned to his early work on glaucoma
medication, convinced that carbonic anhydrase inhibitors could be applied
topically to the eye. He thus laid the groundwork for the development
of topical glaucoma medications including Trusopt®(dorzolamide),
and Cosopt ® (dorzolamide hydrochloride-timolol maleate).
While at UFCOM, Dr. Maren was committed to education.
He developed the medical pharmacology curriculum for second year students
and a clinical therapeutics course for senior students. He also returned
to the study of literature, and his lectures were studded with literary
allusions, such as the influence of opiates on Samuel Coleridge in writing
Kubla Kahn. Dr. Maren wished to give medical students the opportunity
to develop a love of literature. The Thomas H. Maren Medical Student
Reading Room represents the realization of this dream, and also serves
as the focus of a narrative medicine program that shares Dr. Maren’s
emphasis on the importance of reading and literature in medical training.
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