On 6 March 2017, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) as well as the broader neuroscience community lost one of its true luminaries, Jeffrey Scott Nye. A molecular pharmacologist, pediatric neurologist, and pharmaceutical innovator, Jeff made countless contributions in service to so many over the course of his distinguished career. Whether at the bench, the bedside, or the boardroom, Jeff exhibited a stunning intellect, personable manner, and business acumen that were as much innate as learned. Whatever the setting, he brought a virtually indefatigable energy and commitment to a host of noble causes, from scientific discovery and the care of patients, to the development of transformational new therapies and the collaborations required to realize them. Above all, Jeff will be remembered for the countless lives he touched, as a mentor, colleague, and friend.

Ever precocious, Jeff began his academic career brightly, graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College, where his thesis focused on bacteriophage repressors and was published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. After obtaining a Master’s degree in Pharmacology, also at Harvard, Jeff matriculated into the MD-PhD program at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, under the tutelage of renowned neuroscientist Solomon Snyder, and completed his dissertation on the characterization of high affinity cannabinoid binding sites in the brain. Jeff then completed Internship and Residency programs in Pediatrics and a Fellowship in Pediatric Neurology with multiple faculty appointments, becoming a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics and culminating in his appointment as Associate Professor with tenure at Northwestern University Medical School. A prolific author and inventor, Jeff greatly helped expand our understanding of the normal and diseased brain at the molecular and cellular levels, and is responsible, inter alia, for leading seminal investigations on the signaling and functional regulation of Notch protein. In further service to these fields, Jeff was a member of numerous professional and scientific organizations, including the Society for Neuroscience and the American Academy of Neurology; and in 2013, he was elected as a full member of the ACNP.

In an all too abbreviated life, Jeff made some of his most profound and lasting contributions in its final chapter as an industrial drug hunter for the past 16 years, most of them in the pharmaceutical sector of Johnson & Johnson. A senior leader in the Neuroscience Therapeutic Area of Janssen Research & Development and its predecessor organizations, Jeff played integral roles in the development of several crucial medicines, including Topamax, Reminyl, and Viberzi, to name but a few. Most recently and just as importantly, Jeff was a pioneer in the open innovation movement that has revolutionized modern-day pharmaceutical R&D, leading the formation of countless, successful public-private partnerships, collaborations and consortia, as the head of Neuroscience Innovation for Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

Though Jeff’s professional accomplishments and accolades are noteworthy, they are but a part of his story. What those who knew and worked with him will most miss is how much he cared about everything he did and about everyone with whom he did it; we will remember his ever-present smile and his honorable intentions, and we will remember the example he set for all of us to make the world a better place.