Tampa, Fla. (May 4, 2009) – The American Society for Neural Therapy and Repair (ASNTR), holding its 16th Annual Meeting April 30 – May 2 in Clearwater Beach, Florida, has awarded The 2009 Bernard Sanberg Memorial Award for Brain Repair to Howard J. Federoff, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President for Health Services and Executive Dean of the School of Medicine at Georgetown University.
The Award is named for Bernard Sanberg, father of Dr. Paul Sanberg, (University of South Florida), a co-founder of the ASNTR. After Bernard Sanberg died of a stroke in 1999, the award bearing his name was established and is given by the ASNTR annually to an individual who has made outstanding research contributions in the field of neural therapy and repair. The award is presented every year at ASNTR's Annual Meeting. The first Bernard Sanberg Memorial Award was given in 2000.
"The annual award is based on the quality of a researcher's contribution and its impact in advancing neural repair," said John Sladek, PhD, professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and ASNTR founding president.
Recent past winners include Paul Carvey, PhD, Rush University Medical Center (2008); Barry Hoffer, MD, PhD, NIDA/NIH (2007); and John Sladek, PhD, University of Colorado (2006).
Dr. Federoff is responsible for overseeing biomedical research at Georgetown University as well as advancing the educational and clinical missions of the university. His research interests include gene therapy and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. He also holds a number of medical patents.
Prior to coming to Georgetown University, Dr. Federoff was Senior Associate Dean for Basic Research, Professor of Oncology and Genetics and Professor of Neurology, Medicine Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. He was the founding director of the Center for Aging and Development Biology at the Aab Institution of Biomedical Sciences at Rochester.
ASNTR is a society for basic and clinical neuroscientists using a variety of technologies to better understand how the nervous system functions and establish new procedures for its repair in response to trauma or neurodegenerative disease. Member scientists employ stem/neural cell transplantation, gene therapy, trophic factor and neuroprotective compound administration, and other approaches. The next meeting of the ASNTR will be held April 29 - May 1, 2010.
Contact: Donna Morrison. (dmorriso@health.usf.edu).