New York, NY (PRWEB) December 16, 2014
The Mount Sinai Health System today announced that Daniel S. Loeb, CEO and Founder of Third Point LLC, and his wife, Margaret Munzer Loeb, have made a $15 million gift to establish the Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimers Disease in memory of Daniels father, Ronald M. Loeb. The Loeb Center will be a network of research programs, closely tied to clinical initiatives, across the Mount Sinai Health System.
The center will be led by Alison Goate, PhD, a highly regarded neuropsychiatric researcher and molecular geneticist. Dr. Goate will work in concert with three Mount Sinai faculty members who are world leaders in Alzheimers research and care: Mary Sano, PhD; Sam Gandy, MD, PhD; and Eric Schadt, PhD.
"I am honored to establish this new center in my fathers memory and to support groundbreaking research in Alzheimers disease, Mr. Loeb said. When my father was sick, I learned how painful this disease is for those afflicted and their families. I also recognized that there is little hope for patients today beyond slowing the progression of Alzheimers. We urgently need more resources to find a cure or effective prevention.
Mount Sinai has been at the forefront of Alzheimers research, starting with Dr. Ken Davis several decades ago, Mr. Loeb continued. It is my hope that this Center, with its multi-departmental approach and expertise in stem cell research and genomics, will bring together the best in the field to find the breakthrough we so urgently need.
"We are deeply grateful for the Loeb familys immense generosity and unique vision, which will help to enhance Mount Sinais reputation as one of the world's leading resources for all aspects of Alzheimers Disease research," said Mount Sinai CEO and President Kenneth L. Davis, MD. This gift will have an enormous positive effect on our ability to bring together our core competencies in Alzheimers disease research: genomics, bioinformatics, imaging and clinical trials.
I am so pleased to acknowledge Daniel Loeb for this historic gift, Dr. Davis continued. He is a leader with extraordinary talent and vision who brings passion to all that he does. Based in no small part on work done by Mount Sinai researchers, there has been a revolution in the way we think about Alzheimers disease, and that revolution has brought us to the threshold of major breakthroughs, which we will vigorously pursue at the Ronald M. Loeb Center, under the leadership of Dr. Alison Goate, who is truly one of the chief architects of the genomics revolution in Alzheimers disease.
The Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimers Disease will bring together a network of researchers and clinicians from the entire Mount Sinai Health System. The Loeb Center will have substantial interactions with the Alzheimers Disease Research Center (ADRC), sponsored by the National Institute of Aging and directed by Dr. Sano, Associate Dean for Clinical Research and Professor of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Physicians will primarily see patients in the Center for Cognitive Health (part of the May Center for Mount Sinai Doctors), led by Dr. Gandy, the Mount Sinai Professor in Alzheimers Research, Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry, and Associate Director, Mount Sinai Alzheimers Disease Research Center. The Loeb Centers research enterprise will be anchored on the 10th floor of the Icahn Medical Institute. The Center will closely collaborate with scientists at The Friedman Brain Institute, led by Eric Nestler, MD, PhD, the Nash Family Professor and Chair of Neuroscience; and the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology; directed by Dr. Schadt, the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor of Genomics; among other research partners from across Mount Sinai.
Dr. Goate, who is the Mount Sinai Professor of Neuroscience and Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Director of the Loeb Center, is coming to Mount Sinai from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She is renowned for identifying some of the key gene mutations linked to the heritable risk for Alzheimers disease, including her find that a rare mutation in the PLD3 gene doubles the risk of developing late onset Alzheimers disease (LOAD). She led a team of researchers who performed the largest ever genome-wide association study of protein markers found in cerebrospinal fluid, resulting in the discovery of three new genetic variants that may indicate the presence of Alzheimers disease.
As Director of the Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimers Disease, Dr. Goate will have an immediate impact by catalyzing genomics and multiscale biology-based research projects focused on Alzheimers disease and strengthening Mount Sinais Alzheimers disease research infrastructure with new talent in areas such as induced pluripotent stem cells. Dr. Goate will also collaborate with the outstanding team of experts already in place at Mount Sinai. The team includes Dr. Sano, one of the nations leaders in clinical trials of Alzheimers disease, and Dr. Gandy, a foremost expert on the amyloid plaque protein linked to Alzheimers disease. Dr. Goate will also have access to the innovative new MRI and PET technology (Mount Sinai is one of the few sites in the U.S. with such advanced technology) and the Minerva supercomputer, the largest supercomputer ever constructed for the purpose of genomic investigation.
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Gift to Mount Sinai Health System Establishes Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimers Disease