Don Catlin
Encyclopedia
Don H. Catlin, M.D. is an anti-doping scientist and one of the founders of modern drug-testing in sport.
since the 1984 Summer Games
in Los Angeles, as well as testing for the United States Olympic Committee
, the National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA), Major League Baseball
’s minor leagues and the National Football League
(NFL). He has also developed drug identification techniques currently in use at the Olympic, professional and collegiate levels.
In 1982, Catlin founded the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory, the first anti-doping lab in the United States and now the world's largest testing facility of performance-enhancing drugs. He remained the lab's director for 25 years.
Catlin currently serves as president and CEO of the Los Angeles-based NGO Anti-Doping Research, Inc. (ADR). The organization was founded in 2005 to bolster efforts to uncover new drugs being used illegally by competitors and develop the tests to detect them. It also advocates for and establishes programs to encourage athletes at all levels not to use performance-enhancing drugs.
In addition, he heads the companies Anti-Doping Sciences Institute (ADSI) and Banned Substances Control Group (BSCG).
In a peer-reviewed article in the August 2009 issue of the quarterly scientific journal, Comparative Exercise Physiology, Catlin and his colleagues at ADR report that they developed an equine test for powerful blood-boosting drug CERA. ADR is currently working to develop an effective urine test to detect human growth hormone (hGH) — one of the most sought-after tests by sports leagues worldwide. (See Mitchell Report (baseball)
.)
Catlin is Professor Emeritus of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. He also serves as chairman of the Equine Drug Research Institute’s Scientific Advisory Committee and as a member of the Federation Equestre Internationale Commission on Equine Anti-Doping & Medication. Since 1988, he has been a member of the International Olympic Committee
Medical Commission.
The Chicago Tribune named Catlin Sportsman of the Year for 2002.
Career
Catlin has overseen testing for performance-enhancing drugs at the three most recent Olympics held in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
since the 1984 Summer Games
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
in Los Angeles, as well as testing for the United States Olympic Committee
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...
, the National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA), Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
’s minor leagues and the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL). He has also developed drug identification techniques currently in use at the Olympic, professional and collegiate levels.
In 1982, Catlin founded the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory, the first anti-doping lab in the United States and now the world's largest testing facility of performance-enhancing drugs. He remained the lab's director for 25 years.
Catlin currently serves as president and CEO of the Los Angeles-based NGO Anti-Doping Research, Inc. (ADR). The organization was founded in 2005 to bolster efforts to uncover new drugs being used illegally by competitors and develop the tests to detect them. It also advocates for and establishes programs to encourage athletes at all levels not to use performance-enhancing drugs.
In addition, he heads the companies Anti-Doping Sciences Institute (ADSI) and Banned Substances Control Group (BSCG).
In a peer-reviewed article in the August 2009 issue of the quarterly scientific journal, Comparative Exercise Physiology, Catlin and his colleagues at ADR report that they developed an equine test for powerful blood-boosting drug CERA. ADR is currently working to develop an effective urine test to detect human growth hormone (hGH) — one of the most sought-after tests by sports leagues worldwide. (See Mitchell Report (baseball)
Mitchell Report (baseball)
The Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball, informally known as the "Mitchell Report", is the result of former Democratic United States Senator from Maine...
.)
Catlin is Professor Emeritus of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. He also serves as chairman of the Equine Drug Research Institute’s Scientific Advisory Committee and as a member of the Federation Equestre Internationale Commission on Equine Anti-Doping & Medication. Since 1988, he has been a member of the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
Medical Commission.
The Chicago Tribune named Catlin Sportsman of the Year for 2002.
Major Discoveries
- In the 1990s, Catlin began to offer the carbon isotope ratio test, a urine test that determines whether anabolic steroids are made naturally by the body or come from a prohibited performance-enhancing drug.
- In 2002 at the Winter Olympics2002 Winter OlympicsThe 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...
in Salt Lake City, he reported darbepoetin alfa, a form of the blood booster EPO (erythropoietinErythropoietinErythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production...
), for the first time in sports. - Also in 2002, he identified norbolethoneNorbolethoneNorbolethone is an anabolic steroid. It was first developed in 1966 by Wyeth Laboratories, and tested for use as an agent to encourage weight gain and for the treatment of short stature, but was never marketed commercially because of fears that it might be toxic...
, the first reported designer anabolic steroid used by an athlete. - In 2003, as part of the investigation of BALCOBalcoBalco can refer to:* the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative - a controversial sports medicine/nutrition centre in Burlingame, California.* Balco balcony systems who develops, designs and manufactures balcony systems and glazing solutions....
, he identified and developed a test for tetrahydrogestrinoneTetrahydrogestrinoneTetrahydrogestrinone is an anabolic steroid developed by Patrick Arnold. It has affinity to the androgen receptor and the progesterone receptor, but not to the estrogen receptor...
(THG) or “The Clear,” the second reported designer anabolic steroid. In Nov. 2009, 'Newsweek' named Trevor GrahamTrevor GrahamTrevor Graham is a Jamaican-born former athletics coach, based in the United States. Following the BALCO scandal, the US Olympic Committee barred him indefinitely from all its training sites as a number of the athletes he was training had tested positive for drug abuse.-Athletics career:Graham was...
's decision to send a syringe containing the substance to the United States Anti-Doping AgencyUnited States Anti-Doping AgencyThe United States Anti-Doping Agency , is a non-profit organization and the national anti-doping organization for the United States. The organization is charged with managing the anti-doping program for the U.S...
(USADA) (which then passed it on to Catlin for analysis) as one of the decade's Top-10 History-Altering Decisions. - In 2004, Catlin identified madol, the third reported designer anabolic steroid, also known as DMT, and since 2004 he and his team have identified several more designer steroids.
- In 2006, he received a request from the Washington Post to analyse a dietary supplement created by Patrick ArnoldPatrick ArnoldPatrick Arnold is an American organic chemist responsible for creating the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, also known as THG and "the clear". THG, along with two other anabolic steroids that Patrick Arnold manufactured , were drugs at the heart of the BALCO scandal...
which contained an amphetamine-like substance and he identified the active ingredient as methylhexaneamine. The substance was added to the WADA banned list in 2009. - In 2009, he and his team at Anti-Doping Research developed an equine test for the potent blood-boosting drug CERA, short for the brand name Mircera; also known as Continuous erythropoietin receptor activator.
Personal life
His wife, Bernadette, a French-Belgian nurse he met at UCLA, died of melanoma in 1989. He has two sons: Bryce Catlin, a software engineer who is married and living in the Bay Area in California, and Oliver Catlin, Vice President and CFO of Anti-Doping Research in Los Angeles.See also
- World Anti-Doping AgencyWorld Anti-Doping AgencyThe World Anti-Doping Agency , , is an independent foundation created through a collective initiative led by the International Olympic Committee . It was set up on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a result of what was called the "Declaration of Lausanne", to promote, coordinate and...
- ErythropoietinErythropoietinErythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production...
- NorbolethoneNorbolethoneNorbolethone is an anabolic steroid. It was first developed in 1966 by Wyeth Laboratories, and tested for use as an agent to encourage weight gain and for the treatment of short stature, but was never marketed commercially because of fears that it might be toxic...
- TetrahydrogestrinoneTetrahydrogestrinoneTetrahydrogestrinone is an anabolic steroid developed by Patrick Arnold. It has affinity to the androgen receptor and the progesterone receptor, but not to the estrogen receptor...
- Bay Area Laboratory Co-operativeBay Area Laboratory Co-operativeThe Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative was an American company led by founder and owner Victor Conte, a former bass player for the soul band Tower of Power. In 2003, journalists Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada investigated the company's role in a drug sports scandal later referred to as the...
- Use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport
- Mitchell Report (baseball)Mitchell Report (baseball)The Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball, informally known as the "Mitchell Report", is the result of former Democratic United States Senator from Maine...
- Continuous erythropoietin receptor activator