Bazan Selected for Prestigious International Appointment

Nicolas Bazan, MD, PhD, Boyd Professor, Ernest C. and Yvette C. Villere Chair for the Study of Retinal Degeneration, and Director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, has been appointed a Foreign Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. The Department is internationally recognized for its work on aging and diseases of the elderly, particularly dementia and stroke. The appointment will foster greater collaboration between LSU Health New Orleans and Karolinska Institute, focused on exploring neuroinflammatory signaling in Alzheimer’s disease patients. It is a three-year appointment.

“The resources and innovative approaches regarding rescuing neurons in the retina and brain in Dr. Bazan’s laboratory will be instrumental to identify novel mechanistic insights in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s,” notes Steve Nelson, MD, Professor and Dean of LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine.

Bazan’s current work focuses on uncovering molecular processes that underpin neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, traumatic brain injury, pain, epilepsy and stroke. His discoveries have uncovered disease-modifying, novel experimental treatments for several of these conditions. Much of his current work centers on deciphering the molecular principles that underlie neuro-protective and neuro-restorative activities of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and its derivatives, including novel approaches to neural stem cell generation and applications. He has developed new-generation, non-addictive, non-toxic analgesics. He has also developed new experimental therapies for brain tumors, notably glioblastoma multiforme.

Bazan is the founding Director of the LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence. In 1994, he was named a Boyd Professor – the highest academic rank in the LSU System. He is a Founding Senate Member of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Governors of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Foundation.

His research is funded by grants from the National Eye Institute and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health; Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Foundation; Brightfocus Foundation; Foundation Fighting Blindness; Edward G Schlieder Educational Foundation; The Lupin Foundation and Tucker Couvillion III Memorial Fund in Parkinson’s Disease and Research to Prevent Blindness.