Acclaimed McGill neuroscientist to head international brain research organization
Dr Albert Aguayo, director of the McGill University Centre for Research in Neuroscience at the Montreal General Hospital Research Institute, will take over as Secretary-General of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) on January 1, 2001. The IBRO represents the neuroscientific community world-wide and has a membership of 55,000 people from 111 countries. It was incorporated in 1961 by Act of the Canadian Parliament, following persuasive representations by two illustrious McGill neuroscientists, Herbert Jasper and Wilder Penfield. Soon after its foundation, the IBRO established close links with UNESCO, the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) and several other international scientific and medical organizations. The current President of IBRO is Nobel laureate Torsten Wiesel. Its central office is now located in Paris.
"I can think of no person better qualified than Dr Aguayo to lead this important world scientific body," said McGill Principal Bernard Shapiro. "Canada, and McGill in particular, has played a leading role in neuroscience discoveries since the days of Wilder Penfield and Herbert Jasper. The work that they and their successors, like Albert Aguayo, have done has had immeasurable effects on the advancement of knowledge and the wellbeing of individuals. I warmly congratulate him on this new role."
Dr Aguayo is known internationally for the pioneering research he and his McGill colleagues have done on the regeneration of nerve cells. Reversing the long held notion that damage to certain nerve pathways is irreversible, he demonstrated that nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord of adult animals do have the ability to regenerate after injuries, under the right circumstances.
The significance of Dr Aguayos work has brought him numerous national and international accolades, including the Gairdner International Award, Prix Leo Parizeau, Prix du Québec (Wilder-Penfield), Killam Prize and, last month, the Christopher Reeve Research Medal for Spinal Cord Repair. In addition to his heavy research and teaching responsibilities, Aguayo has served as president of the Canadian Association of Neuroscience, the Canadian Neurological Society and the Washington-based Society for Neuroscience.
"Scientists around the world are making tremendous progress in understand behaviour at the level of the brain and I believe that this is leading us to a revolution as important as that of the computer," says Dr Aguayo. This has tremendous implications for education, treatment of disease and understanding of the human mind. I am deeply honoured to have been chosen to lead the IBRO at this exciting time in its history."
Dr Aguayo will make ample use of Email and long distance telephone calls to direct the IBRO while he remains at McGill and continues his current research, which is focussed on regeneration of damaged nerve fibers in the eye.
