DOCUMENT

Celebrating 50 years of hope 7 exceeded one million dollars, yielding $100,000 of interest each year to fund research. At the second meeting of the Council on 6 March 1972, a Scientific Advisory Committee was set up which consisted of nominees of the two medical schools and the Epilepsy Association. Professor Carman, Dr Glasgow, and Mr Wrightson represented the University of Auckland. The University of Otago nominees were the Dean, Professor W.E. Adams, the Dean of the Christchurch Clinical School, Professor G.L. Rolleston, and the Dunedin neurologist, Dr Keith MacLeod. The Epilepsy Association had three representatives: Professor Chapman and two neurologists, Dr Jack Bergin of Wellington, and Dr Charles Crawford of Napier. The Scientific Advisory Committee met for the first time on the 3 July 1972 when they decided to start advertising grant funding for research projects into neurological conditions. On Monday 27 November 1972, they met officially to decide which grants would be funded. A sum of $65,000 was made available for grants during the first three years, and the committee recommended that seven research projects should be funded for that amount of time. This started the next 50 years of funding neurological research and education across New Zealand. Since 1972, the Scientific Advisory Committee has continued to meet to ensure the very best and brightest of Kiwi clinicians and scientists are funded. As the Foundation grew, so too did the type of funding – it evolved from general grants to large and small projects; the addition of postgraduate scholarships and fellowships and now, there are over 14 different grants researchers can apply for, totalling $5 million of funding given on an annual basis. Professor Chapman, who died in 1980, deservingly had the honour of having one of the first fellowships named after him. The Chapman Fellowship is still awarded to this day to medical graduates to obtain research and clinical experience at centres of excellence with the aim that they bring these new skills and knowledge back to New Zealand. The first two individuals to receive these fellowships now hold positions with the Neurological Foundation as well as prestigious positions within the New Zealand medical field. Dr Neil Anderson, a neurologist at Auckland Hospital and the Neurological Foundation Chief Medical Advisor, was the first recipient; and Dr Barry Snow, Medical Director of Adult Health Services at Auckland District Health Board and the Neurological Foundation Council Chair, was the second. Mr Phillip Wrightson was the second individual to be honoured with a fellowship named after them in 1997. This fellowship marked the Neurological Foundation’s 25th anniversary of awarding grants and is now awarded to scientists for international training in neuroscience after completion of a PhD. The first to receive this illustrious fellowship was Professor Bronwen Connor, 2018 Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit and Head of the Neural Reprogramming and Repair Lab at the Centre for Brain Research. The Neurological Foundation has been an organisation founded on excellence and hope for 50 years. Professor Chapman, Mr Wrightson, Professor Carman, Dr Glasgow, and Dr Cant all knew the research funded by the Foundation would change lives, and they were not wrong. Since its inception, the legacy of these five men is embedded within the core of what the Neurological Foundation stands for. Because of these five men, the Neurological Foundation has gone onto funding initiatives like the Neurological Foundation Human Brain Bank, which is world renowned for brain research, and life-saving procedures such as the clot retrieval, led by the Neurological Foundation Chair of Clinical Neurology. They provided careers for scientists and clinicians throughout New Zealand, have saved lives and most importantly, provided hope. Hope that future generations will live in a world without neurological disease. THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO HAVE COME BEFORE US, AND TO THOSE WHO WILL COME AFTER US. YOUR LEGACY WILL LIVE ON IN THE RESEARCH YOU DO, AND THE ANSWERS YOU PROVIDE.