Solomon H. Snyder

Dr. Solomon H. Snyder (born December 26, 1938) is an American neuroscientist.

Snyder graduated from Georgetown University in 1958 and Georgetown Medical School in 1962. At a very early age he published his research on ornithine decarboxylase and RNA synthesis which opened up countless vistas in the neurosciences. After a two-year fellowship at the NIH, Snyder moved to Johns Hopkins Medical School to complete his residency in psychiatry.

He studied under Julius Axelrod and in 1973 discovered the opioid receptor and later endorphins. For this work he was awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1978. He also received National Medal of Science in 2003.

He is also known for his work describing the role of nitric oxide as a neurotransmitter.

Presently he is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Neurosciences, and Pharmacology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is also Senior Editor, PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).

He is listed by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) as one of the 10 most-often cited biologists and he also has the highest h-index of any living biologist.