- Email: [email protected]
Richard Lindley
In Context
Milestones The Hebrew University (Jerusalem, Israel) has launched its Center for Brain Sciences. Initial funding of US$50 million for the new institution, the largest in Israel focusing on brain research, was provided by the Edmond J Safra Philanthropic Foundation. A new childhood epilepsy centre to be run by The National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy (Lingfield, Surrey, UK) is set to open this autumn. The Neville Childhood Epilepsy Centre will provide diagnostic, assessment, and rehabilitation services for patients under 18 with epilepsy and other neurological disorders, and will be the first purpose-built UK childhood epilepsy facility for assessment and research. Iran’s first Neurology Center was inaugurated at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (Tabriz, Iran), one of Iran’s top medical schools. The centre, directed by Hormoz Airomlou, will focus on treatment of epilepsy. A European consortium of more than 25 research groups led by the University of Konstanz (Konstanz, Germany) is collaborating in the MARK-AGE project, to identify biomarkers of human ageing and their association with changes in health. This large-scale investigation is supported by the European Union’s Seventh Research Framework Programme until 2013. A team of 14 research groups in Israel and Europe was awarded almost €12 million by the European Union to investigate synaptic proteins involved in neurological and psychiatric diseases. The collaborative effort is led by Nils Brose, at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine (Gottingen, Germany). Kevin P Campbell (University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA) and Louis M Kunkel (University of Harvard, Boston, MA, USA) received the 2009 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology for their pioneering work on the causes of muscular dystrophy. Both awardees are Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. The International Rett Syndrome Foundation, on the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the discovery of MECP2, awarded Huda Zoghbi (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA) its research award in recognition for her many discoveries on the mechanisms by which MECP2 mutations cause Rett syndrome. Zoghbi is a member of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. James P Bennett was appointed chair of the Department of Neurology at Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA, USA) and director of its Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Multidisciplinary Research and Clinical Center. He is due to start his position on July 1. Send announcements to: [email protected]
www.thelancet.com/neurology Vol 8 July 2009
Lifeline Richard Lindley graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and completed a doctorate with the Edinburgh Stroke Research group, UK. In 2003 he was appointed Moran Foundation for Older Australians Professor of Geriatric Medicine, University of Sydney, Australia. He is the co-principal investigator of the third International Stroke Trial (IST-3). His other research interests include randomised controlled trials of vaccination and rehabilitation, and other studies involving influenza, frailty, and stroke. What has been the greatest achievement of your career? Working with the Edinburgh Stroke Research group to establish the trial design for the first “mega-trial” in stroke, and then actually recruiting over 19 000 patients with acute stroke in IST.
See Articles page 628
And the greatest embarrassment? Getting medical students to feel for the liver in the left upper quadrant. My persistent left/right confusion clearly excluded surgery as a career option but the curious coincidence of my initials (RL) has guided the correct identification of right/left in the interpretation of CT scans. What is the best piece of advice you have received, and from whom? “When life gets tough, maintain your own standards”, given to me by my friend and colleague, Richard Curless. If you had not entered your current profession, what would you have liked to do? Aeronautical engineering. I got up at the crack of dawn to watch the first Qantas A380 land at Sydney airport, and I’m looking forward to trying it out as a passenger this month. How would you improve the public’s understanding of research? I would really like to develop Ian Chalmers’ idea of encouraging people to carry a card to declare their willingness to take part in clinical trials. To my chagrin I have never quite got round to developing this idea. How do you relax? Swimming at Sydney harbour beaches (although it was not as relaxing this year after the two shark attacks). What apart from your family is the passion of your life? The music and operas of the contemporary American composer John Adams. I’ve managed to get to a few premieres, and have met him on a couple of occasions. What keeps you awake at night? The 24-h helpline for IST-3, the hospital when on-call, and my dog Moby, who howls in tandem to police sirens. If you could have dinner tonight with a famous person of your choice (dead or alive), who would it be? Alexander McCall Smith, my fellow bassoonist from the well named Really Terrible Orchestra in Edinburgh, and a hugely entertaining personality.
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Milestones The Hebrew University (Jerusalem, Israel) has launched its Center for Brain Sciences. Initial funding of US$50 million for the new institution, the largest in Israel focusing on brain research, was provided by the Edmond J Safra Philanthropic Foundation. A new childhood epilepsy centre to be run by The National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy (Lingfield, Surrey, UK) is set to open this autumn. The Neville Childhood Epilepsy Centre will provide diagnostic, assessment, and rehabilitation services for patients under 18 with epilepsy and other neurological disorders, and will be the first purpose-built UK childhood epilepsy facility for assessment and research. Iran’s first Neurology Center was inaugurated at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (Tabriz, Iran), one of Iran’s top medical schools. The centre, directed by Hormoz Airomlou, will focus on treatment of epilepsy. A European consortium of more than 25 research groups led by the University of Konstanz (Konstanz, Germany) is collaborating in the MARK-AGE project, to identify biomarkers of human ageing and their association with changes in health. This large-scale investigation is supported by the European Union’s Seventh Research Framework Programme until 2013. A team of 14 research groups in Israel and Europe was awarded almost €12 million by the European Union to investigate synaptic proteins involved in neurological and psychiatric diseases. The collaborative effort is led by Nils Brose, at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine (Gottingen, Germany). Kevin P Campbell (University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA) and Louis M Kunkel (University of Harvard, Boston, MA, USA) received the 2009 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology for their pioneering work on the causes of muscular dystrophy. Both awardees are Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. The International Rett Syndrome Foundation, on the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the discovery of MECP2, awarded Huda Zoghbi (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA) its research award in recognition for her many discoveries on the mechanisms by which MECP2 mutations cause Rett syndrome. Zoghbi is a member of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. James P Bennett was appointed chair of the Department of Neurology at Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA, USA) and director of its Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Multidisciplinary Research and Clinical Center. He is due to start his position on July 1. Send announcements to: [email protected]
www.thelancet.com/neurology Vol 8 July 2009
Lifeline Richard Lindley graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and completed a doctorate with the Edinburgh Stroke Research group, UK. In 2003 he was appointed Moran Foundation for Older Australians Professor of Geriatric Medicine, University of Sydney, Australia. He is the co-principal investigator of the third International Stroke Trial (IST-3). His other research interests include randomised controlled trials of vaccination and rehabilitation, and other studies involving influenza, frailty, and stroke. What has been the greatest achievement of your career? Working with the Edinburgh Stroke Research group to establish the trial design for the first “mega-trial” in stroke, and then actually recruiting over 19 000 patients with acute stroke in IST.
See Articles page 628
And the greatest embarrassment? Getting medical students to feel for the liver in the left upper quadrant. My persistent left/right confusion clearly excluded surgery as a career option but the curious coincidence of my initials (RL) has guided the correct identification of right/left in the interpretation of CT scans. What is the best piece of advice you have received, and from whom? “When life gets tough, maintain your own standards”, given to me by my friend and colleague, Richard Curless. If you had not entered your current profession, what would you have liked to do? Aeronautical engineering. I got up at the crack of dawn to watch the first Qantas A380 land at Sydney airport, and I’m looking forward to trying it out as a passenger this month. How would you improve the public’s understanding of research? I would really like to develop Ian Chalmers’ idea of encouraging people to carry a card to declare their willingness to take part in clinical trials. To my chagrin I have never quite got round to developing this idea. How do you relax? Swimming at Sydney harbour beaches (although it was not as relaxing this year after the two shark attacks). What apart from your family is the passion of your life? The music and operas of the contemporary American composer John Adams. I’ve managed to get to a few premieres, and have met him on a couple of occasions. What keeps you awake at night? The 24-h helpline for IST-3, the hospital when on-call, and my dog Moby, who howls in tandem to police sirens. If you could have dinner tonight with a famous person of your choice (dead or alive), who would it be? Alexander McCall Smith, my fellow bassoonist from the well named Really Terrible Orchestra in Edinburgh, and a hugely entertaining personality.
609