News & Comment

George Aghajanian died on July 4, 2023 in Guildford, Connecticut, at the age of 91. An electrophysiologist and innovator, George was a much-loved mentor, colleague and friend. His laboratory captured the first in vivo recordings of serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine neurons. For over half a century, George’s research at the Yale University School of Medicine opened new fields of discovery in neuroscience.

Bud Craig, an outstanding neuroscientist, died on 15 July 2023 at age 71. Bud made unique contributions to the fields of pain and interoception, challenging major dogmas and offering powerful explanations for various phenomena including central pain and the subjective awareness of feelings, with great implications for our understanding of consciousness.

Peter Lakatos passed away on Sunday, 30 May 2021. He was 49 years old. Peter was a Research Scientist at the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in New York State and a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. With Peter’s sudden death, neuroscience has lost a gentle giant.

Leslie Gail Ungerleider, a distinguished experimental psychologist and neuroscientist, previously Chief of the Laboratory of Brain and Cognition at the National Institute of Mental Health, died suddenly on 11 December 2020. Friends, family, colleagues, and trainees all the world over mourn her passing, but also celebrate her life and extraordinary achievements.

Horace Basil Barlow, Fellow of the Royal Society, winner of the Australia Prize, the Royal Medal of the Royal Society and the Schwartz Prize of the Society for Neuroscience, died on 5 July 2020 at the age of 98, 10 days after suffering a stroke. As news spread among his former students and collaborators, one phrase recurred again and again in the messages of nostalgic reflection: ‘the end of an era’.

Ronald S. Duman, the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Neuroscience at the Yale University School of Medicine and Director of the Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities of the Connecticut Mental Health Center, died unexpectedly of a heart attack on 1 February 2020 while hiking near his home in Guilford, CT. Dr Duman was about to turn 65 years old. He was a member of the US National Academy of Medicine and received many honors for his research on mood disorders, including the Colvin Prize, from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and the Anna-Monika Foundation Prize.

On 2 January 2020, the neuroscience community lost not only a pioneering figure, but also a generous and influential thought leader. Bruce Sherman McEwen, head of the Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at the Rockefeller University, passed away at age 81, following a short illness. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine and American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and former president of the Society for Neuroscience, Bruce will be remembered for his profound scientific impact, measured not only by output of papers, but also by the large family of neuroscientists he trained over a career spanning nearly six decades. Above all, Bruce will be remembered for his generosity, kindness, gentleness of soul, and for being an extraordinary mentor.

On April 13, the neuroscience community lost a remarkable scientist and true humanitarian. Paul Greengard, co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000, Vincent Astor Professor and head of the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at the Rockefeller University in New York City, died of an apparent heart attack at age 93. Paul will be remembered for his seminal contributions to neuroscience, for pioneering the field of neuronal signal transduction and for training hundreds of neuroscientists. For anyone who knew Paul it will come as no surprise that up until a few hours before his death, Paul was doing what he liked the best: working on a scientific manuscript.

Pamela Sklar, Chair of the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and endowed Professor of Psychiatric Genetics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, died 20 November 2017 after a long illness.