Bernie Marcus, chairman of the Marcus Foundation
and co-founder and former CEO of The Home Depot,
and his wife, Billi, announce their $25 million gift to
Boca Raton Regional Hospital. Images provided
With the new $25 million neuroscience center to be built at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, Palm Beach County strengthens its position as a hub for testing treatments for aging diseases.
Scientists at Florida Atlantic University and the Scripps Research Institute are researching treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other aging diseases.
Hospital officials promised the “most advanced form of care” when they announced their new state-of-the-art neuroscience center last month.
“We see the center as the clinical site for the investigation of new treatments developed by FAU, Scripps and the Max Planck Society,” chief of medicine Dr. Charles Posternak said.
A site for clinical testing has been the missing element as Palm Beach County moves to national prominence for its research into aging diseases.
Baby boomers reaching the Medicare age group are increasing the need for scientific investigation into the neurosciences.
Neuroscience center will test treatments for such diseases
of aging as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
FAU president Mary Jane Saunders has set aging and neuroscience as the university’s research priorities.
“You couldn’t choose something better for our community with the resources to be available both in the hospitals and the population base that resides here,” Saunders said. “Challenges that exist out there in understanding aging include everything from the disease to the management of late-in-life issues.”
FAU’s College of Medicine sees a Boca Raton testing site as important to FAU research scientists.
“As we grow together, we are planning joint faculty appointments and many collaborations on clinical research efforts,” said Dr. David J. Bjorkman, dean and professor of FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. “The creation of the Marcus Neuroscience Institute will jump-start and further enhance our joint efforts in education and future research collaborations in the areas of neuroscience and aging.”
The Scripps Research Institute also welcomed the hospital’s plan to open its new neuroscience center in 2014.
“We are certainly open to any collaboration that would further scientific and medical advances,” said Harry Orf, vice president for scientific operations at Scripps Florida. “Our goals are the same.”
The research and academic focus on aging diseases is extensive in the county.
FAU’s commitment goes beyond scientists researching Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s treatments to include its Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences in the College of Medicine.
The center brings together scientists from different backgrounds to tackle the most the most profound questions of brain and behavior to create a new breed of neuroscientist on the cutting edge of research.
The university’s College of Nursing opened its Memory and Wellness Center in 2001 to meet the complex needs of people with memory disorders. The center conducts research on the best care for patients with such disorders.
FAU’s new medical school began classes last August with a focus on gerontology and aging to educate future scientists.
The medical school has partnered with Scripps Florida to offer a dual M.D./Ph.D. program with a medical degree from FAU and a doctorate degree offered by Scripps’ Kellogg School of Science and Technology.
Scripps has research projects underway in neuroscience focusing on the processes of memory and the diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s that affect them.Scripps scientists are investigating metabolic changes involved in the aging process that they hope will lead to therapeutics that can help patients live healthier lives longer.
Germany’s world-renowned Max Planck Society will open its new neuroscience research center next to Scripps this summer. Scientists there also are looking for ways to treat diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Scripps joined Tenet Florida last month to announce that a second clinical research hospital will be built in Jupiter near facilities for Scripps and the Max Planck Society.
The $25 million given by former Home Depot CEO Bernie Marcus to build the Boca Raton neuroscience center is the largest philanthropic gift ever given to the hospital.
“Our plan at Boca Regional is to meld the best in physician skill with the finest technology and a marvelous facility to provide a center of excellence in the neurosciences that is unparalleled in Florida,” Marcus said.
Comments