Roscoe O. Brady, MD

The metabolic community has lost an inspiring pioneer and leader in the field of lysosomal storage disorders who has passed away at the age of 92. RoscoeOwenBradywas born in Philadelphia, graduated from Pennsylvania State University, and worked in his father’s pharmacy. He obtained his MD degree from Harvard Medical School in 1947. Dr. Brady completed an internship and fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania. After service in the U.S. Naval Medical Corps, he moved to the National Institutes of Health in 1954 where he continued to work beyond his retirement, until recently, as Scientist Emeritus. Dr. Brady was chief of the Developmental and Metabolic Neurology Branch at NINDS/ NIH, adjunct Professor at Georgetown School of Medicine, and member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He made seminal contributions to the understanding of long chain fatty acid synthesis. His discoveries include the identification of the enzymatic defects underlyingGaucher disease, Niemann-Pick disease, and Fabry disease, as well as the specific metabolic abnormality in Tay-Sachs disease. He and his team helped to reduce uncertainties for affected families by developing innovative testing and screening methods for these conditions and improved numerous patients’ lives by developing enzyme replacement therapies for Gaucher disease and Fabry disease. Milestones of these discoveries and their resulting legacy are reviewed in the accompanying article in the Journal (Ries 2017). Among the numerous awards Dr. Brady received were the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award, the Kovalenko Medal, and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Roscoe Owen Brady was a humble and approachable teacher, he enjoyed sharing knowledge and helping people to grow and develop, he was astute, persistent, and generous. May Immanuel Kant’s words