SfN Member Wins Lasker Award
The Society for Neuroscience congratulates the recent co-winners of the 2014 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, SfN member and neurologist Mahlon R. DeLong and neurosurgeon Alim Louis Benabid, who made critical contributions to the development of the deep-brain stimulation technique that reduces tremors and restores motor function in patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease.
DeLong, a professor of neurology at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, created a new model for the brain's circuitry, which produced a new framework for studying Parkinson’s disease and a target for treatment. Meanwhile, Benabid, chairman of the board of the French bio-medical research center Clinatec and member of the French Académie des Sciences, crafted an effective surgical technique that remedies neuronal misfirings. Their work has culminated in an effective treatment for more than 100,000 individuals worldwide, according to the Lasker Foundation.
