Pitt Alzheimer's Researchers William Klunk And Chester Mathis To Receive The 2009 Ronald And Nancy Reagan Research Institute Award

Main Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia
Article Date: 29 Mar 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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The Alzheimer's Association will present the 2009 Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute Award to University of Pittsburgh researchers William E. Klunk, M.D., Ph.D., and Chester A. Mathis, Ph.D., for their outstanding contributions to the research, care and advocacy of Alzheimer's disease patients and their caregivers. The award will be presented during tonight's National Alzheimer's Gala at The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

Drs. Klunk and Mathis are responsible for developing a noninvasive method of detecting beta-amyloid proteins, which form plaques in the brain tissue of people who have Alzheimer's disease. The experimental technique might make it possible to distinguish Alzheimer's disease from other dementias. The researchers invented Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB), the imaging agent that is injected into the bloodstream immediately before positron emission tomography (PET) brain imaging scans.

Dr. Klunk is a professor of psychiatry at Pitt's School of Medicine, co-director the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer Disease Research Center, and director of the Laboratory of Molecular Neuropharmacology at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. Dr. Mathis is director of the UPMC PET Center, and professor and vice chair of research in the Department of Radiology at the School of Medicine.

The Alzheimer's Association established the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Award in 2004 to honor leaders in the field of Alzheimer research and to pay tribute to a couple who became champions in the fight against Alzheimer's.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is one of the nation's leading medical schools, renowned for its curriculum that emphasizes both the science and humanity of medicine and its remarkable growth in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant support, which has more than doubled since 1998. For fiscal year 2007, the University ranked sixth out of more than 3,000 entities receiving NIH support with respect to the research grants awarded to its faculty. As one of the university's six Schools of the Health Sciences, the School of Medicine is the academic partner to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Their combined mission is to train tomorrow's health care specialists and biomedical scientists, engage in groundbreaking research that will advance understanding of the causes and treatments of disease and participate in the delivery of outstanding patient care.

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