The Jay L. Foster Memorial Scientific Lecture in Alzheimer\'s Disease will take place Tuesday, October 7, 2008, at 4 p.m. in Room A115 Crabtree Hall at GSPH. The speaker is Peter St. George-Hyslop, MD, FRCP, university professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, and director, Center for Research in Neurodegenerative Disease, University of Toronto. He will speak on the topic of The Genetics of Alzheimer\'s Disease.
He received his MD from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, and an FRCP(C) in internal medicine and in neurology from the Royal College of Physicians of Canada. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto and at Harvard Medical School. St. George-Hyslop was appointed as an instructor in neurology and genetics at Harvard University and was assistant physician in the Department of Neurology and the Department of Genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital before assuming his current position at the University of Toronto, where, since 2003, he has held the rank of university professor. His honors include the Francis A. McNaughton Prize from the Canadian Neurologic Society and the Award for Medical Research from the Metropolitan Life Foundation. He was selected as a Medical Research Council of Canada (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) Scholar in 1991 and as Distinguished Scientist in 2000. He received the Gold Medal in Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in 1994 and the Michael Smith Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in 1997. In 1995, he became a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2004 he was awarded the Oon Prize in Medicine from the University of Cambridge, and in 2007 he was elected as a foreign member to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
St. George-Hyslop\'s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms that cause neurodegeneration in Alzheimer\'s disease and, in particular, the mechanisms by which the presenilin protein complex generates a neurotoxic peptide that plays a central role in this disease. This knowledge has utility both in the design of potential therapeutics and in understanding the mechanism of neurodegeneration in other neurodegenerative diseases.
The family of the late Jay L. Foster established this memorial lecture series to educate the scientific community about the latest research in Alzheimer’s disease. From their own experience, they learned that knowledge about the illness is an important factor in coping with its effects on family and friends, especially the pain of watching a loved one decline. They hope that the community will benefit from the evidence-based information provided through the lecture series.
9/08/2008