Nicolas G. Bazan, MD, PhD, Boyd Professor and Director of the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence, has been awarded the Professor Miroslaw M. Mossakowski Medal by the Polish Academy of Sciences. Named for the late internationally esteemed neuropathologist who helped found the Medical Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences that now bears his named, the medal recognizes Dr. Bazan's outstanding performance and lasting contributions to research focusing on neurodegenerative diseases. This prestigious honor was bestowed upon Dr. Bazan during his invited opening plenary lecture at the Neurochemical Conference 2013 in Warsaw, Poland.
Dr. Bazan has devoted his life to the study of fundamental cellular and molecular events underlying Alzheimer's, stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson's, traumatic brain injury, and retinal degeneration, discovering multiple now-patented potential therapies to slow disease progression. Trained at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York and Harvard Medical School, Bazan was appointed to the faculty at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry of the University of Toronto at age 26, where he conducted seminal studies on responses of the brain to experimental seizures and ischemia. In the 1970s, he established a research institute in Argentina. In 1981, Bazan joined the faculty of the LSUHSC, where he established and now heads the Neuroscience Center of Excellence.
Dr. Bazan's awards and honors also include the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (1989); being elected to the Royal Academy of Medicine, Spain (1996); being elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Dublin (1999); President, American Society for Neurochemistry (1999-2001); Doctor Honoris Causa, Universidad de Tucuman, Argentina (1999); Endre A. Balazs Prize, International Society of Eye Research (2000); the Proctor Medal, ARVO (2007); the Alkmeon International Prize (2011); the Chevreul Medal, Paris, France (2011); and the Excellence Award, Annual European Association for Vision and Eye Research, Nice, France (2013).
BMI's influence on disease pathogenesis uncovered in new research