Bert William O'Malley

Dr. O’Malley was born in Pittsburgh, PA as an only child of Bert and Rebecca O’Malley. Not only was he a loving father, grandfather, great grandfather, he was also recognized as the ‘founding father’ in the scientific field of molecular endocrinology.

Dr. O’Malley received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He completed his clinical internship and medical residency training at Duke University Medical Center followed by four years at the National Institutes of Health, where he was head of the Molecular Biology Section of the Endocrine Branch within the National Cancer Institute. After completing his Navy scientific tour of duty at the NIH, Dr. O’Malley joined Vanderbilt University as the Lucious Birch Professor and Director of the Center for Reproductive Biology. Dr. Michael Debakey, then President of Baylor College of Medicine, recruited Dr. O’Malley in 1973 to Baylor College of Medicine as Chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology with the vision of building a world renowned basic and translational science program.

Over the next 45 years, Dr. O’Malley built the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology into one of the most highly recognized and successful scientific departments and research centers in the world. Throughout his career, Dr. O’Malley published over 700 scientific manuscripts and transformed the fields of molecular biology and endocrinology into engines for the development of novel gene and molecular therapies. Dr. O’Malley was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Association of Physicians and the National Academy of Inventors. He won the National Medal of Science in 2007 and was awarded more than 65 national and international honors and major science prizes over the course of his career.

As an innovator, Dr. O’Malley also founded 5 companies stemming from his 33 patents in the fields of gene regulation, molecular endocrinology, steroid receptor coactivation, and cell proteomics and metabolism. In 2018, Dr. O’Malley transitioned from his department chair role to serve as the fourth chancellor of Baylor College of Medicine and focus on his research and scientific discoveries until the day of his passing.

While his science and work were never ending, Dr. O’Malley enjoyed a life full of adventure. He loved to fish and hunt with his friends and family. He loved the beach and started a family tradition of annual Cancun family trips that lasted for 51 years.

He was quite proud of his Irish heritage and the O’Malley St. Patrick’s day parties became legend. Actually, every O’Malley party became legend. Dr. O’Malley loved all holidays and dressing up in costumes for each occasion. He loved telling jokes, giving toasts, and was a master story teller centered on both his childhood experiences as well as original creations, all of which ended with a moral or lesson learned.

While Dr. O’Malley received a level of success and recognition that places him among the most premier scientists in history, he touted that his greatest success was his 65 years of marriage with his wife and life-long partner Sally O’Malley and his 4 children Sally, Bert Jr., Becky, and Erin (deceased 2016), his 9 grandchildren, and 6 great grandchildren. Known as “Pappy” to his family, Dr. O’Malley lived life to the fullest and brought an endless energy, passion, and love to his friends and family that will be remembered and cherished for generations to come.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Dr. O'Malley's honor to the Erin O'Malley Endowed Fund in Molecular and Cellular Biology or the Bert O'Malley Innovation Fund at the following link:

https://give.bcm.edu/omalley