McGill establishes important chair in schizophrenia research
Montreal -- Thanks to a generous donation, 香蕉视频 is establishing one of the first chairs in schizophrenia research in North America. The money has been provided by the Graham Boeckh Foundation, which was set up a few years ago by Tony and Raymonde Boeckh and named for Tony聮s son Graham, who died of complications resulting from the disease in 1986 at the age of 22. Graham grew up in Montreal, graduated from Lower Canada College, and spent two years at Queen聮s University before his illness prevented further studies. He was a gifted student, athlete and outdoorsman. Graham聮s younger brothers Ian and Robert are trustees of the Foundation, and their mother Janet has fully supported the project.
The Boeckh family has committed itself through the Graham Boeckh Foundation to support improved understanding of the cause and treatment of schizophrenia -- a response to their personal tragedy which McGill Dean of Medicine Abraham Fuks has hailed as "courageous and visionary." After careful investigation of other Canadian centres, the Boeckh family chose McGill because of the synergy between McGill聮s Department of Psychiatry, the Douglas Hospital, the Allan Memorial Institute and the Montreal Neurological Institute聮s brain imaging centre and because of the University聮s international tradition of excellence in research. Thanks to their substantial gift, the new chair will be filled by a world-renowned scientist who is expected to conduct ground-breaking research of global importance and to serve as a major focus in attracting additional research funding and other talented scientists.
When McGill聮s Department of Psychiatry celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1993, visiting speaker Dr. Fuller Torrey, warned that Canada should act swiftly to avoid the tremendous social challenges associated with untreated and misunderstood mental illness, particularly schizophrenia. According to him, "people would be astounded" at how little is known about the sources of this disease. Stressing that serious mental illness must be treated seriously, he called for Canada to step up its research funding in order to seize new opportunities for study and treatment. McGill psychiatrist Joel Paris, acting chair of the department, agrees, pointing out that schizophrenia affects about 1% of the population at some point in their lives. This translates into approximately 50,000 Quebecers. In fact, schizophrenia leads to more hospital admissions than any other mental illness. Doctors estimate the direct and indirect social costs to be in the billions of dollars.
Dean of Medicine Abraham Fuks has warmly welcomed the Graham Boeckh Foundation gift as a tremendously exciting initiative in scientific efforts to find a cure for schizophrenia. "Over the last few decades, researchers all over the world have been actively pursuing this question, and we are privileged at McGill to have an extraordinary group of psychiatrists and brain scientists working together to understand such fundamental biological aspects as the mechanisms for genetic transmission of schizophrenia, abnormalities in brain structure and function, and changes in brain chemistry associated with the disease. With this splendid donation, the new McGill chair in schizophrenia research presents a unique opening to help us solve the precise mystery of how the brain becomes vulnerable. Once the causes of schizophrenia are better known, we can develop better means to prevent it."
The new chair will be called the Graham Boeckh Chair in Schizophrenia Studies.
McGill聮s Faculty of Medicine has also received support recently for endowed chairs in Cancer Research, Palliative Care, Medical Oncology, Paediatric Oncology/Haematology, and Human Genetics.
