By Michelle Jaffee
MBI Deputy Director Steven T. DeKosky, M.D., was honored Thursday with the Bill Thies Award for Distinguished Service to ISTAART — the International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment. ISTAART is a 13,000-member global research network led by the Alzheimer’s Association.
The award was presented at this week’s Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in Philadelphia. AAIC is now the largest international forum to advance Alzheimer’s and dementia science and clinical practice.
“I’m deeply honored to be given this award in memory and honor of Bill Thies,” DeKosky said in video remarks accepting the award. “I greatly enjoyed working with him and helping to build the research side of not only what the association does but the success we had in building the AAIC. It started with relatively small numbers of people and went into expansion internationally and with a progressive increase both in the number of people in it and in the kinds of specialty groups that aided research in the field broadly.”
DeKosky, an internationally known neurologist and Alzheimer’s expert, was nominated for the award by Michael S. Jaffee, chair of University of Florida’s Department of Neurology.
“Throughout his career, Dr. DeKosky has been a pioneer making key advancements in our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, but he didn’t stop there,” Jaffee said. “For decades, he has worked to create collaborations among his peers worldwide to propel the entire field forward.”
The award honors the late Thies, who served as the Alzheimer’s Association’s chief medical and scientific officer for 22 years as well as its senior medical science advisor. In 2008, Thies launched ISTAART as a global research network to pursue new scientific breakthroughs. With DeKosky and others, he built the network to include collaborating scientists and clinicians from over 120 countries. Thies also helped start the peer-reviewed journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
“Dr. DeKosky was part of the initial founding of ISTAART and worked very closely with Dr. Thies,” said Heather Snyder, Ph.D., vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association. “ISTAART is now this incredible entity bringing together early-career researchers with those across the entire ecosystem of more established researchers, mid-career researchers and clinicians who are devoted to similar professional interest areas. I can think of no one more worthy than Dr. DeKosky to receive this recognition.”
Four years ago, DeKosky was honored with the Alzheimer’s Association’s Henry Wisniewski Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes significant contributions to Alzheimer’s and dementia research.