By Gerald D. Klee, MD
[Winter 2006; Vol. 32, No. 2; Pg 6, 12]
On November 11, 2005, the Johns Hopkins School
of Medicine celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Department of Neuroscience
and honored its founder Solomon Snyder, MD. A gala dinner was held, hosted by
the departments of Neurology, Neuroscience,
Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
The event also celebrated Johns Hopkins’ first century of neuroscience, which
dates back to Harvey Cushing and Walter Dandy and, more recently, Vernon
Mountcastle.
Eminent speakers included University
President
William R. Brody, MD, Medical School Dean Edward Miller, MD, Senator Barbara
Mikulski and famed pianist Leon Fleisher, who also entertained guests by playing
Brahms Waltzes, opus 39. Dr. Brody said, "The originality, diversity and
scope of Sol's discoveries are legendary. They exceed those of possibly any
other neuroscientist in the past half-century. Sol has been at Hopkins for 40
years now, and we all stand in awe of what he has achieved."
Dean Miller announced that the Department of
Neuroscience will be renamed in recognition of Snyder's lifetime of achievement
at Johns Hopkins and his extraordinary generosity. "We want to make sure
that the scope and originality and significance of Sol's many contributions to
Johns Hopkins and to the field of neuroscience will always be recognized,"
Miller said. "It is my great pleasure and honor to announce that henceforth
these tremendous research advances will come from the Solomon H. Snyder
Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine."
Snyder will step down as director of the
department later this year when a new director is found to replace him. However
he will remain as a full-time faculty member and will continue to head his
research lab.
Sol entered a psychiatric residency at Johns
Hopkins in 1965 and by 1970 he was a full professor of psychiatry and
pharmacology. Hopkins nearly lost him in 1980, when Rockefeller University made
an exceptionally attractive offer to him and his colleagues (and former
students) Joe Coyle and Mike Kuhar. Hopkins Dean Richard Ross came up with a
counter offer that was accepted. Years earlier, an advisory committee had
recommended that Hopkins establish a Department of Neuroscience. Ross suggested
a “mini-department” of neuroscience, comprised solely of Snyder, Coyle and
Kuhar, which might integrate Hopkins neuroscience. (1) At the time, neuroscience
was spread out among many departments.
The Department of Neuroscience, which started
on a shoestring, has since grown into the Medical School’s most famous basic
science department. At its inception, the department was one of the first in the
nation, and today it is the largest of the eight basic science departments at
the School of Medicine, with 25 primary faculty. Another 78 Hopkins faculty have
secondary or joint appointments in neuroscience, including two dozen or so whose
primary appointments are in the departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery or
Psychiatry. A fifth of the world's top neuroscientists--four out of the top
twenty--are faculty members at Johns Hopkins, according to Science Watch.
At the dinner it was also announced that
Snyder has made substantial gifts to Hopkins. An article in the Baltimore
Sun (2) revealed that over the past 19 years Snyder has contributed gifts
totaling almost $30 million to the Johns Hopkins Neuroscience Department that
will be used by Hopkins scientists trying to unravel the brain's mysteries and
to treat its ills.
The gifts represent the largest amount ever
given by a faculty member to the medical school.
Snyder is a founder of two local biotechnology companies,
both of which have been sold to larger companies.
Earlier in the day there was a daylong
symposium titled “Molecules to the Mind”, A Celebration of Brain Science at
Johns Hopkins. Two Nobel laureates, Richard Axel and Eric Kandel, and six other
leading neuroscientists from around the country -- Cornelia Bargmann, Roger
Nicoll, Carla Shatz, William T. Newsome III, Fred Gage and Huda Zoghbi,
presented their most recent findings on topics such as understanding smell,
vision, learning and memory, decision-making, and spinocerebellar ataxias.
Snyder plans to continue his research, which focuses on
how existing drugs impact the brain and how new drugs could be developed with
fewer side effects.
"I thought it would be nice to have a little more
time for my research," he said. "We have some very exciting leads
right now that I'm not ready to talk about."
Snyder is a Distinguished Life fellow of the
Maryland Psychiatric Society and of the American Psychiatric Association.
An interview with Dr. Snyder in which he
described his research appeared in the Fall 2005 issue of TMP. http://www.mdpsych.org/archive/05F_Klee.htm
References:
1. Snyder, Solomon H.; Neuroscience at Johns
Hopkins, Historical Perspective, Neuron; Vol 48, Number 2; October 20, 2005,
201-211
2.
Baltimore Sun, November 11, 2005, Doctor reveals gift to Johns Hopkins
By Jonathan Bor