Newswise — Nicolas G. Bazan, MD, PhD, FARVO, of Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, is the new chair of the ARVO Foundation for Eye Research (AFER). He succeeds Gary W. Abrams, MD, FARVO, of Wayne State University/Kresge Eye Institute.
“It is an honor to serve as chair of AFER and to follow in the footsteps of Dr. Abrams and AFER’s founder, Dr. John Dowling,” Bazan said. “I am looking forward to working with colleagues to further the Foundation’s educational, research and financial support of researchers around the world, as they strive to make the kind of advances in eye and vision research that are changing people’s lives.”
Bazan is the founding director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans. He holds the Ernest C. and Yvette C. Villere Endowed Chair of Retinal Degenerations and is a professor of ophthalmology, biochemistry, molecular biology and neurology.
A member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) since 1984, he has served on the AFER Board of Governors since 2008. Earlier in 2011, he organized AFER’s first Investors Seminar, “Emerging Frontiers in Ophthalmic Science” and an AFER fundraising awards ceremony and dinner, which honored key researchers in the field.
Bazan is highly regarded worldwide for his significant contributions to brain and eye research. He made his first his breakthrough discovery in the late 1960s at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto when he found that brain ischemia or seizures cause a rapid rise in the presence of the free form of two fatty acids in the brain, often referred to as the “Bazan effect.” Over the next 40 years, his internationally-renowned findings have included the elucidation of the lipid pathways in the retina and brain; his discovery of the DHA derivatives, which he named docosanoids; the platelet activating factor in inflammatory responses; and his design of agents to prevent cell death during the initiation and early progression of macular degeneration and Alzheimer’s disease.
In addition to the LSU Neuroscience Center of Excellence, Bazan founded several academic centers and programs, including the Institute of Biochemical Research (INIBIBB) of the School of Biological Sciences and the Graduate Program in Biochemistry at the University of the South, Argentina, in 1970. His research in brain disorders and retinal diseases have translated into 20 patents and led to experimental therapies in stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and pain.
Bazan earned his medical degree from the University of Tucuman in Argentina and received his PhD from the same university after completing his research thesis work at Harvard Medical School. He has been awarded numerous national and international honors, which include the Jacob Javits Award in the Neurosciences from NINDS (NIH); membership in the Royal Academy of Sciences (Spain); Fellow, Royal College of Physicians (Ireland); the Endre A. Balazs Prize from the International Society for Eye Research; and the 2011 Chevreul Medal from the European Federation for the Science and Technology of Lipids. In 2007, Bazan was awarded the Proctor Medal; the highest honor bestowed by ARVO. He was named a Silver Fellow of ARVO (FARVO) in 2009 and a Gold Fellow in 2011. Dr. Bazan has published over 500 scientific papers and recently authored the novel Una Vida: A Fable of Music and the Mind, in which a neuroscientist embarks on a personal quest to uncover the mysterious past of a New Orleans Jazz singer stricken with Alzheimer’s.
The ARVO Foundation for Eye Research (AFER), now in its 10th year, complements ARVO's mission to cure and prevent blindness and eye disease by providing funding to promote scientific interactions and exchange; foster translational research and move forward scientific breakthroughs from the laboratory to clinical practice; and recruit and retain scientists in all fields of vision research. Learn more at www.arvofoundation.org.
The Association for Research and Vision in Ophthalmology (ARVO) is the largest eye and vision research organization in the world. Members include more than 12,500 eye and vision researchers from over 80 countries. ARVO encourages and assists research, training, publication and knowledge-sharing in vision and ophthalmology.
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