ARCHIVES - Ivana Podvalova Day.
Early Research Experiences in Pharmacology. Following graduation at Gymnasium in Prague she commenced work at the Pharmacological Laboratory, first as a technician. Later studying at the University she became a scientific worker. She graduated in 1964 from Charles University Prague, Faculty of Natural Sciences. Her scientific work throughout this period had been in the Department of Professor Votava, Research Institute for Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Kourimska 17. Prague 3.

From the onset of her work she pursued the pharmacology of natural ergot alkaloids, especially those with oxytocic effect. Later attempts were made to change the pharmacological properties of ergot alkaloids by modifications of the molecular structure. In her laboratory were tested a number of derivatives of Lysergic Acid. The first groups of these derivatives were cycloalkylamides of D-lysergic acid and one of its members was introduced into clinical medical practice as an uterotonic drug under the name Cepentyl. The other interesting group of substances they tested during those years derived from D-6-methylergolenyl and isoergolenyl ureas. The most interesting pharmacological properties were shown by D-6-methylisoergolenyl-diethyl-urea that was selected for further pharmacological and clinical research under the name of Lysenyl. This drug was found to exert high antiserotonin activity similar to that of LSD but did not appear to possess the psychotomimetic effect characteristic of LSD.

The Eye Witness series in the History of Psychopharmacology edited by T.A.Ban., D. Healy., and E. Shorter., includes the story of how Ivana Day came to America via Italy and met her husband Professor Stacey B. Day at the University of Minnesota. (Pharmacological Experiences Across A Divided World). She was born in Tisice, in the black earth farming region of Melnik, Czech Republic, and immigrated to the United States in 1971. She joined the Medical Research Division of American Cyanamide (Lederle) in 1973, and was with the CNS Research Section for twenty years until 1993, when she retired. Her early contributions, because of the Cold War situation, were published mainly in Czech, Russian, or British publications.