Press Releases
Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute Groundbreaking Ceremonies Set for Nov. 8; NIH Director to be Featured Guest Speaker
November 8, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Elias Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health, will be the featured speaker at groundbreaking ceremonies for the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute on the campus of West Virginia University Nov. 8.
The Institute is a nonprofit, multi-million dollar international medical research center focused on human memory and the development of new drugs and diagnostics to treat and diagnose neurological and cognitive disorders. It is the largest basic science research venture in West Virginia history, and the only major nonprofit institute in the world focusing on human memory.
U.S. Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, who founded the institute and serves as chairman of its board of directors, has long expressed the desire to support research that can spare others the suffering endured by his family during his mother's long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. The institute is named for her, and the Rockefeller family has provided substantial financial and personal support for its research.
Blanchette Rockefeller died of complications of Alzheimer's disease in 1992. "It is the hope of my entire family that this Institute will make a unique contribution to this critical science and research." Rockefeller added. "I am proud to lend my mother's name to this vital purpose and to honor her in this way."
The $30 million structure, to be completed by 2006, will house the Institute's scientific laboratories, administrative offices and other neuroscience facilities affiliated with West Virginia University. It is expected to provide research space for 40 or more scientists.
"Construction of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute was made possible by Federal funds secured by U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, by an economic development grant from the State of West Virginia, by West Virginia University, and by generous donations from hundreds of private individuals and corporations which support its research mission," said BRNI president Robert M. D'Alessandri, M.D.
The groundbreaking ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the construction site located just behind the WVU Eye Institute.
"Dr. Zerhouni's presence signals the importance of this enterprise to the nation's research agenda," said Rockefeller. "Our scientists are among the world's foremost researchers in developing an understanding of Alzheimer's disease, and will lead the way toward discovering effective diagnostic tools, treatments and cures over the next decade."
"We are particularly pleased to welcome Dr. Zerhouni to the WVU campus," said Dr. D'Alessandri. "His research career in radiology gives him a degree of insight into our work that is unique among the nation's leaders."
Zerhouni oversees the NIH's 27 Institutes and Centers with more than 17,000 employees and a fiscal year 2004 budget of over $28 billion.
"Dr. Zerhouni has set out an aggressive agenda for researchers at federally funded institutions, including the nation's academic health sciences centers." D'Alessandri said. "He has challenged us to accelerate the pace of medical discovery, to focus our efforts in specific areas of human disease, and to reorganize our institutions to move research results from the laboratory to the patient more efficiently. We at BRNI and throughout the WVU research community are up to the challenge."
For further information on the groundbreaking, please call the Institute at (304) 293-3962. More information about the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute is available at www.brni.org