Alumni Gazette
DOCTOR & DETECTIVE: Internationally recognized for his expertise as a scientist, Don Catlin 鈥�65M (MD) has developed several of the tests used to detect performance-enhancing substances among athletes. (Photo: AP Images)An avid cyclist, Don Catlin 鈥�65M (MD) has been paying close attention to the sport over the past several years. But as the cycling season turns to its signature events such as the Tour de France this summer, the noted medical scientist is watching more than which rider is at the front of the peloton.
Catlin, one of the world鈥檚 foremost authorities on sports doping, is overseeing a comprehensive testing program for two of the most prominent American teams in international cycling鈥擳eam Columbia and Team Garmin-Slipstream (formerly Team Garmin-Chipotle).
As part of the teams鈥� bid to demonstrate that cycling has put the doping scandals of the past several years behind, Catlin, the founder and former longtime director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory, and his new company are testing team members over the course of several months to compare samples to the athletes鈥� baseline chemistry. Any major changes in the chemistry, such as a spike in blood hemoglobin, could tip off testers that drugs have been used.
It鈥檚 the kind of longitudinal monitoring that internists do with their patients, watching lab tests over time to analyze what metabolic changes reveal about a patient鈥檚 health. Such testing is now being used by the International Cycling Union in what it calls a 鈥渂iological passport program,鈥� designed to show that athletes are clean.
鈥淭his gives you a baseline, and then any big changes can reflect usage,鈥� Catlin says.
The testing is the latest high-profile assignment for Catlin, who as an internist and an assistant professor at UCLA was asked to create the U.S. Olympics testing operation, which he guided into the world鈥檚 largest antidoping laboratory. His UCLA lab routinely tested competitors for the U.S. Olympic Committee, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Major League Baseball 鈥檚 Minor Leagues, and the National Football League. By 2007, the lab was testing 50,000 samples annually and had 50 employees.
Since leaving UCLA in 2007, Catlin鈥檚 analyses have continued to be seen as the gold standard in the science of combating sports doping. He鈥檚 launched two new endeavors aimed at continuing his work, Anti-Doping Research Inc. and the Anti-Doping Sciences Institute, based in Los Angeles. When seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong announced his comeback to cycling last year, he noted that he was turning to Catlin to carry out a testing regimen that would include making results available online. As Armstrong joined the Tour of California in February, he and Catlin realized that expenses and logistical problems made their plans impractical.
鈥淚 wanted to do the program and so did Lance,鈥� says Catlin. 鈥淏ut as we got further and further into it, we realized it was going to be pretty hard. His team was paying for it. So they had to deal with nickels and dimes, which are short these days. Testing somebody every three days, you need collectors around the globe, and that mounts up.鈥�
Catlin admits he didn鈥檛 know much about anabolic steroids in the early 1980s when an International Olympic Committee official asked if he鈥檇 help set up a drug-testing lab for the 1984 Summer Olympics.
鈥淗ere I was, a struggling assistant professor, trying to work my way up to associate, and then full, professor,鈥� says Catlin in his office on Los Angeles鈥檚 West Side. 鈥淭his was a side trip I could make. I went for it, and I never looked back.鈥�
In addition to conducting testing programs for the international bike-racing tour, his new company is developing a reliable urine test to detect human growth hormone and is working on a national drug-testing program for the equine industry.
With millions of dollars at stake, the pressures on competitors to seek an edge with drugs remain high, Catlin says.
鈥淎 cardinal feature of doping is that some athletes will experiment with any new substance that might improve their performance,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey do not wait for regulatory approvals. If they can obtain a supply, they will try it. This means scientists need to anticipate and develop tests even before the drug has been misused by athletes.鈥�
Catlin, who grew up in Orange, Conn., a New Haven suburb, enrolled in the School of Medicine and Dentistry after earning his undergraduate degree at Yale. He recalls Rochester鈥檚 collegial atmosphere as well as its dedication to medical research.
鈥淎t Rochester, I learned that the practice of medicine involved a lifetime of research,鈥� says Catlin, who spoke at his 30th reunion in 1995. 鈥淎s a physician, you are both a health care provider and a scientist.鈥�
After graduation, he was drafted into the Army with orders to ship out to Vietnam. Not long before his scheduled departure, he was told to report to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he served for three years.
In 1968, he was back at UCLA, where he鈥檇 spent two years as a medical resident. By the early 1980s, he had a joint appointment in the departments of medicine and pharmacology while working with the International Olympic Committee to set up a lab for the 1984 Olympics.
In 2003, his team developed the test for the steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG. Nicknamed 鈥渢he Clear,鈥� THG is a steroid that has sunk the careers of a handful of world-class athletes.
鈥淒on is passionate about his work and he has the kind of dedication that you see in someone who sees his work as his life鈥檚 mission,鈥� says Thomas Murray, president of the Hastings Center, an ethics think tank in Garrison, N.Y., who has worked with Catlin for 15 years. 鈥淗e is brilliant and he is committed to doing good in his life.鈥�
Catlin played a central role in the investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), an inquiry into steroid use that has ensnared track star Marion Jones and baseball鈥檚 Barry Bonds.
He was the lead expert witness at the BALCO proceedings in 2003, explaining the intricacies of performance-enhancing drugs to the grand jurors.
鈥淔or 20 years, I was pulling teeth to get people to pay attention,鈥� says Catlin. 鈥淏ALCO opened it all up.鈥�
In Catlin鈥檚 office, his Beijing Olympics credentials and an Olympics hat hang from the corner of a board covered with chemical equations. In a downstairs laboratory, researchers work with specimens by the OrbiTrap mass spectrometer, rented for $1 a year from the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Another piece of testing equipment is on loan from a manufacturer.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a different paradigm from the UCLA lab, which was supported by the fees paid for the drug testing,鈥� says Catlin. 鈥淲e need all the grants and equipment loans we can get. But no matter how many fancy instruments you have, people are the key. Otherwise you just have a bag of bolts.鈥�
As a member of the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission, he oversaw blood testing for human growth hormone at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, his 14th Olympics since he founded the UCLA lab. His Olympics work is a labor of love and professional dedication. Every two years since 1984, he has taken a month off to volunteer at the world鈥檚 top athletics event.
He keeps in shape riding his mountain bike in the Santa Monica Mountains on circuits that include a 2.5-mile climb. It鈥檚 his way to combat the inevitable loss of muscle mass that鈥檚 part of the aging process.
鈥淚t happens in your mid-60s, and I know that I鈥檓 slipping,鈥� he says with a grin. 鈥淚 know the milestones on the ride up there. But cycling makes me feel good. And I鈥檓 usually the oldest guy up in the mountains.鈥�
David McKay Wilson is a New York鈥揵ased freelance writer.