CORVALLIS, Ore. - George Bailey, an Oregon State University toxicologist, died on Monday, Oct. 20, just one month before he was to receive the 2014 Discovery Award presented by the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon Health & Science University.

Bailey, a distinguished professor emeritus in the OSU Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, was an international expert on carcinogenesis and cancer prevention through dietary agents. He died at age 73 following a serious illness.

On Nov. 12, Bailey will be honored posthumously with the Discovery Award. Made to a leading medical researcher in Oregon, it recognizes an investigator who has made significant, original contributions to health-related research. In its citation, the organization noted that Bailey's research "has the potential to dramatically limit colon and liver cancer rates in many regions of the world."

This is the third consecutive year that an OSU scientist has received the Discovery Award.

Bailey, who also was a principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute at OSU, did pioneering work on aflatoxins, a common cause of liver cancer that kills millions of people in China and Africa. He has studied chlorophyll as an inexpensive way to reduce DNA damage caused by aflatoxins, and also indole-3-carbinol for the prevention of breast cancer.

As a toxicologist, Bailey helped develop the use of rainbow trout in biomedical research to study carcinogens and cancer. Serving for 17 years as director of OSU's Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center, he used trout to help revolutionize the study of cancer risk, especially the dose level of carcinogens that can ultimately lead to cancer.

"Dr. Bailey retired from OSU after decades of outstanding research, instructional and service contributions to OSU," said Craig Marcus, professor and head of the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology. "His productive career focused on understanding the mechanisms of chemical carcinogenesis, its modulation by dietary and environmental factors, and the development of cancer preventive agents."

Bailey received his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1969, and had been on the OSU faculty for 35 years. In his career he published more than 150 papers in scientific journals and won several awards, including the prestigious Prince Hitachi Prize in Comparative Oncology in 2001.

Source: 

Craig Marcus, 541-737-1808

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