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Leon Joel Thal, MD, 1944–2007: Honoring his scientific legacy
Author(s) -
Khachaturian Zaven S.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2007.11.014
Subject(s) - citation , library science , editor in chief , computer science , management , economics
s n a r 1 m G Leon Thal’s academic interest in developing therapies or neurodegenerative diseases began to take shape during he 1970s; these were formative years of research on Alzeimer’s disease (AD) in the United States. The developent of his career as a physician and scientist was interwined with the early struggles to surmount major barriers or clinical research and the development of treatments. ventually he became a key player in this arena and merged as the chief architect for the national endeavor to nd effective treatments for dementia. Although AD was first described 100 years ago, the effort o develop treatments for the disease began to gain momentum nly 30 years ago. In 1978, when the National Institute on ging (NIA) began to develop a national program of research n neurobiology of aging and AD, there were no effective nterventions. At that time, the prospect of any treatment for ementia appeared to be an unattainable goal. Early efforts to evelop interventions had to overcome a number of major mpediments that included the lack of the following: