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Headlines 3 Our upcoming events Regrettably we have postponed our upcoming events due to COVID-19 uncertainty. We are hopeful that a special Headlines event with Dr John Reynolds in Dunedin on November 24 will still be able to go ahead – see Page 5 for details. Reading over the successful recipients in our first grant round for 2021, I am truly astonished at the depth of talent we have in New Zealand’s neurological research community. We received 70 applications, requesting nearly $10.5 million, and were able to fund 21 grants, totalling more than $2.3 million. This includes the Dawn Fellowship, a new fellowship generously funded by the Dawn Estate, for research into the rare condition Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. We are bringing a talented Wrightson fellow back to New Zealand to do a Senior Research Fellowship, who returns with a wealth of knowledge after working in the lab of world- renowned cerebrospinal fluid expert, Professor Jeffrey Iliff, at the University of Washington. We are supporting two talented New Zealand trainee neurologists to do research in Canada and Australia, who will be able to bring new expertise back to New Zealand for stroke telehealth and immune therapy for Multiple Sclerosis. Research on adolescents also features in this round. We have funded a project that aims to reduce the impacts of collisions in junior rugby, and another project looking to understand the effects on adolescents of prenatal exposure to methamphetamine. It is such a privilege to be able to support such excellent research into a wide range of neurological conditions, and I hope you enjoy reading about the successful recipients in this edition of Headlines. Ngā mihi Sarah Schonberger Message from our Head of Research Barry Snow made life member We are delighted to announce Dr Barry Snow as a life member of the Neurological Foundation. Dr Snow is a leader in the neurology field, specialising in movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. In 1988, he was the second recipient of a Neurological Foundation V J Chapman Fellowship and carried out research into Parkinson’s disease and related disorders while at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, which started him in his career as a clinician-researcher and movement disorder specialist. In 1995 Barry returned to New Zealand to join the Department of Neurology at Auckland Hospital before being appointed to the position of Clinical Director of Neurology in 1999. In 2011 he was promoted to Medical Director of Adult Health Services at the Auckland District Health Board. Barry joined the Neurological Foundation serving the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). He then became Chair of that Committee and a de facto member of the Foundation’s Council. When Barry stepped down from his role as SAC Chair, he became a full Council member. In 2017, he was appointed as Council Chair, retiring from this role at the end of 2020. During his four years as Council Chair Barry’s leadership brought in a number of changes to the Foundation’s governance, to ensure the Neurological Foundation met and exceeded best practice. We would like to thank Barry for his contribution and dedication to neurology and to the success of the Neurological Foundation. Congratulations on becoming a life member! OBITUARY Father of Pharmacology Fred Fastier We are extremely sad to hear of the passing of Dr Fred Fastier, who made significant contributions to pharmacology in New Zealand. Fastier was also an important figure in the history of the Neurological Foundation. He received the Foundation’s first ever grant, awarded in 1973. Born in Dunedin in 1932, Fastier taught pharmacology at the University of Otago for 41 years. He helped develop Otago’s first pharmacy curriculum, and was the first foundation chair of the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology when it was formed in 1969. He was an unconventional and well-known academic identity, also remembered for his historical accounts of the University, risqué limericks, and for his extensive science-fiction book collection. During his lifetime he donated 122 works of art mainly by Otago-based artists to the Hocken Collection. He studied at Otago and Oxford in the UK, and after retiring in 1980 went on to gain a Master’s degree in Philosophy. Since the mid-1990s Fred has supported the Fastier Prestigious Summer Studentship, which funds BSc, BSc(Hons) and MSc Pharmacology and Toxicology students over a 10-week summer research project. Professor Fastier passed away on July 23 aged 101. Sources: Otago .ac.nz; library.otago.ac.nz/hocken; Otago Daily Times 21.08.21