Zachary and Elizabeth M. Fisher Center for Research on Alzheimer's Established at Rockefeller University

Dr. Torsten Wiesel, the Nobel Prize-winning neurobiologist who is president of The Rockefeller University, announced today the creation of the Zachary and Elizabeth M. Fisher Center for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease. The $5 million Center is made possible by a gift of $2.5 million from the Fisher Medical Foundation and a matching gift from the University’s fund for new initiatives provided by David Rockefeller.

Speaking at the end of a three-day international conference on Alzheimer’s disease co-sponsored by the Fisher Medical Foundation and the National Institute of Aging division of the National Institutes of Health, Wiesel said:

“We are very grateful for Zachary Fisher’s generosity and bold vision in establishing the new Center with two major, interrelated components: basic research in the laboratory, and clinical research involving patients. Dr. Paul Greengard, a pioneering neuroscientist, will be the new Center’s director and will lead a team of scientists conducting basic research in the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and David Rockefeller Research Building. The Center’s clinical research will be conducted in The Rockefeller University Hospital. We also wish to thank David Rockefeller for making this new Center possible.”

Zachary Fisher said, “I am very pleased that Rockefeller University has committed its world-class laboratories, outstanding physician-scientists and superb Hospital clinical research and patient-care facilities to support and complement the activities of the new Center. Under the leadership of Dr. Greengard, these combined resources will help us establish a pre-eminent facility for research aimed at understanding Alzheimer’s disease and developing new treatments for this debilitating disorder. With this unique, interdisciplinary facility, we also expect to capitalize on the rapid pace of new scientific findings.”

Fisher, whose wife of 50 years, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s four years ago, added, “There are now 4 million Americans afflicted with Alzheimer’s and the number is expected to rise to over 14 million by the year 2050, making Alzheimer’s disease one of this nation’s most urgent and costly health problems. It is my fervent hope that this new initiative, like a national call to arms against a deadly enemy, will galvanize our efforts and lead to better treatment and, ultimately, a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. In our battle to relieve the suffering of millions of Alzheimer’s patients and their families, we should settle for nothing less than victory.”

David Rockefeller said, “When my grandfather founded Rockefeller University in 1901, he envisioned a biomedical research facility that would be at the forefront of scientific discovery and disease control. And it was in this same tradition that I established a fund for new initiatives at Rockefeller University two years ago. For these reasons I am extremely pleased that a portion of that fund will now be devoted to supporting Zach Fisher’s bold and inspirational effort to combat Alzheimer’s disease.”

The new Center will provide state-of-the-art facilities and advanced technologies to expand and accelerate the Alzheimer’s research conducted in the Greengard Laboratory. It will also help advance the patient-oriented studies of some of the world’s leading physician-scientists at the University Hospital. The interaction between basic science and clincial investigation–a unique collaboration pioneered by The Rockefeller University Hospital in 1910–will permit the Center to capitalize immediately on discoveries in the laboratory, test them clinically, and translate them into potential new diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.

Torsten N. Wiesel, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1981 for studies of how the brain processes visual information, became the seventh president of The Rockefeller University in January 1992.

Zachary Fisher, who made his fortune in the construction business, is a leading philanthropist who has supported many intiatives in the Armed Forces. He founded the Fisher Medical Foundation in 1994 after his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The Foundation aims to find a cure for Alzheimer’s through two main avenues: working jointly with the government through the National Institutes of Health; and providing funding for innovative ideas and pilot projects that cannot be funded by the government through the NIH.

David Rockefeller, who has served on the Board of Trustees of The Rockefeller University since 1940, is involved in many business activities as well as not-for-profit organizations spanning a broad range of international, governmental, civic and cultural issues.

Paul Greengard, Vincent Astor Professor and head of the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at The Rockefeller University, is one of the world’s leading experts on Alzheimer’s disease and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.