The first Leonard Berg Symposium on Alzheimer's Disease will be held at the School of Medicine on April 4, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. in the Eric P. Newman Education Center, 320 S. Euclid Ave. A reception will follow.
The symposium honors Leonard Berg, M.D., professor of neurology, who will step down from his position as director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center on May 1. It recognizes his contributions to the care of Alzheimer's patients and their families and to the scientific search for a solution to this condition.
The symposium is designed for physicians, allied health professionals and medical research scientists, though the general public also is welcome. Topics include an overview of Alzheimer's disease, its oxidative damage to nerve cells, risk factors, experimental models, and the amyloid hypothesis of the disorder. Speakers will come from across the country.
Berg graduated from Washington University in 1945 and obtained a medical degree from the School of Medicine in 1949. He joined the faculty in 1955.
Since 1979, he has headed federally funded studies that compare aging in healthy subjects with persons with dementia. The Healthy Aging and Senile Dementia program has set international standards for evaluating patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Berg has received Alzheimer's Disease Research Center grants from the National Institute on Aging since 1985. The funding has supported a wide range of clinical and basic-science studies and outreach programs.
In 1981, Berg helped establish the St. Louis chapter of the Alzheimer's Disease Association. He was elected to the medical and scientific advisory board of the national organization in 1986 and chaired that board from 1991-95. He also has served on the association's national board and on its ethics advisory panel. From 1988 to 1995, he chaired the Missouri State Advisory Board on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders, and he was a member of the U.S. Congress Advisory Panel on Alzheimer's Disease.
The symposium is free, but reservations are required. A luncheon, with remarks by William A. Peck, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the medical school, costs $25. Call (314) 362-6891 for further information or fax reservations to (314) 362-1087.
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