The Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) has announced its first endowed chair.
The Lesleigh Green - Bill and Nancy Green Chair in Dementia Research Endowed Chair is held by Professor Jürgen Götz, the inaugural Director of QBI’s Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research.
Professor Jürgen Götz
Foundation Chair of Dementia Research at The University of Queensland (UQ) since 2012, Professor Götz established his reputation in the Alzheimer’s field as a research group leader at the University of Zurich and Chair of Molecular Biology and Director of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Laboratory at the Brain and Mind Research Institute of the University of Sydney.
used to clear the toxic amyloid-β plaque
build-up in the most prevalent form of Dementia
His current research focuses on determining the mechanisms behind Alzheimer’s and developing therapeutic ultrasound as a treatment for this disease.
“I feel very honoured for being the recipient of the Lesleigh Green - Bill and Nancy Green Chair in Dementia Research Endowed Chair and am grateful to QBI for selecting me,” Professor Götz said.
“This also illustrates the importance of ageing dementia research and eventually finding treatments for the many debilitating diseases of ageing.”
Professor Götz earned his PhD in immunology at the Max-Planck Institute of Freiburg, Germany, in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Georges Köhler.
The Lesleigh Green - Bill and Nancy Green Chair in Dementia Research Endowed Chair
The Lesleigh Green - Bill and Nancy Green Chair in Dementia Research Endowed Chair is QBI’s first endowed chair. The chair was created through an estate gift to charity from Lesleigh, who passed away on 20 November 2014.
UQ Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Deborah Terry AO acknowledged the significance of this gift
“The task of taking discovery science and translating it into a possible clinical treatment is incredibly complex and takes a considerable amount of time, hard work, and funding,” Professor Terry said.
“This Endowed Chair will provide important security for Professor Götz and his team and give them confidence and inspiration to continue their potentially life-changing research.”
A life-changing gift for Dementia research
QBI Director Professor Pankaj Sah said dementia was one of the most pressing health challenges of our time.
“The Queensland Brain Institute is Australia’s largest institute focused on the brain in health and disease,” Professor Sah said.
“This very generous and significant gift will enable QBI to continue its leading-edge research into ultrasound for the treatment of dementia. We are extremely grateful to the Green family for their support.”
Speaking on behalf of the Green family, Trustee Mr Peter Hanley said Lesleigh was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in August 2012.
“For Lesleigh, philanthropy was very important,” Mr Hanley said. “She always knew she would receive considerable wealth when her father died, and she wanted to share some of that with people who were either poor or couldn’t make a living because of their health or because they needed treatment.
“The fact that she experienced Alzheimer’s disease was very much in line with her thinking. It would have given her great pleasure to be giving money to brain research.”
