Background
Sevanian was born in Germany and emigrated to the United States with his family, settling first in San Francisco and later in the San Fernando Valley (near Los Angeles).
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Alex Sevanian
Edit ProfileEducation
Sevanian earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from California State University, Northridge and his master’s degree and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of California at Los Angeles (University of California, Los Angeles).
Career
Alex Sevanian"s father, Ara Sevanian (Born, May 21, 1916, Armenia Died, January 4, 2011, Mission Hills,California), was a composer and kanonist whose works have been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, among others He went on to do postdoctoral work at University of California, Los Angeles under James Mead, and worked as an assistant research biochemist in the Laboratory of Nuclear Medicine and Radiation Biology. Sevanian was promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor and then to full Professor.
The institute merged into the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology of the School of Pharmacy at University of Southern California in the early 1990s, and Sevanian remained there as a Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology.
He also held an appointment as Professor of Pathology in University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. Sevanian died from cancer on February
17, 2005. Sevanian made major contributions to the understanding of phospholipases as repair enzymes for oxidized membrane lipids.
He worked to identify specific oxidative mechanisms in atherosclerosis. He researched the effects of lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress, and modified lipoproteins in the progression of cardiovascular disease, seeking ways to convert research findings into therapeutic interventions.
Membership
In 1981 Sevanian became one of the founding faculty members of Doctor Paul Hochstein’s Institute for Toxicology at the University of Southern California ( University of Southern California), which specialized in free radical and oxidative stress research. In 1988 Sevanian became a founding member of the Oxygen Society (now the Society for Free Radical Biology & Medicine), later serving as Councillor, Secretary General, and finally Treasurer of the International Society for Free Radical (SFRR International).
