Lawrence Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D.

Lawrence (Larry) Schwartz, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, at Virginia Commonwealth University, is a translational research investigator who, with colleagues, has made fundamental discoveries about human mast cells. These include identifying different types of mast cells; and discovering human α-, β-, and α/β-tryptases, characterizing their proteolytic activities, producing an anti-tryptase inhibitor of potential therapeutic utility, and inventing clinically useful tryptase immunoassays that facilitate the diagnosis of systemic mastocytosis (FDA and WHO approved) and of anaphylaxis, the discovery and diagnosis of mast cell activation syndromes and of hereditary alphatryptasemia, and the monitoring of mast cell cytoreductive therapies.