| Scientists' understanding of how the brain affects behavior has grown dramatically over the past decade. And there will be even further opportunity for advances in the study of behavioral neurosciences at the BU School of Medicine, thanks to a recent gift from Jack Spivack.
Spivack, a member of the MED Board of Visitors since 1984, has established a trust through which he will name the school's new Center for the Behavioral Neurosciences with a bequest of more than $7 million.
The center will build on long-standing and emerging expertise at MED. "We have developed major research strengths in the behavioral neurosciences," says BU President ad interim Aram Chobanian, former MED dean and Medical Campus provost. "We are also developing a strong research infrastructure for studies in this area, and are putting together an entity that will give researchers from different disciplines in the behavioral neurosciences opportunities to interact and collaborate in studies of how behavior is determined."
Chobanian says that several research centers are now probing the structural, chemical, and neurological changes in the brain, but few are looking specifically at how the processes influence actual behavior. "The goal is to take what we know from the standpoint of brain chemistry, structure, pathology, and function," he says, "and combine that with research on the external manifestations."
The School of Medicine has, for example, an Alzheimer's Disease Center (see article "Fighting Alzheimer's on Many Fronts") and an Autism Research Center of Excellence, both funded by the National Institutes of Health. "We also have a Movement Disorder and Parkinson's Disease Center," says Chobanian. "And there are centers on alcohol and drug addictions, with the goals of finding the underlying causes of addictions and developing new therapies. Other areas in which we're getting stronger are the studies of malnutrition and drugs on brain development, both in the maternal environment and in infants and young children." Chobanian also points to the recent establishment of BU's Center for Biomedical Imaging, which has new-generation magnetic resonance imaging equipment that enables investigators to study intricate aspects of brain and heart function.
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President ad interim Aram Chobanian. Photo by Linda Haas |
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Spivack has long been interested in how human behavior is influenced by physiological changes in the developing brain. Although he has no children, "I've had the opportunity to observe children of friends and relatives, and I'm convinced that the early, formative years of a child's life profoundly determine behavior in later years," he says. "I've noticed that parents who are thoughtful, who give their full attention to their children, have the best chance of seeing them turn out to be successful adults. And people who are highly erratic, or who have no time to interact with their children-these kids grow up with emotional and psychological difficulties. It's no secret that early influences affect children later in life, but I've always been intrigued by how this happens neurologically."
Indeed, recent groundbreaking studies in neuroscience have allowed scientists to examine structural and chemical changes in children's brains. "I believe that it's vital for researchers to study how neurological pathways are laid down in infancy and early childhood," says Spivack.
Spivack's affiliation with MED came about indirectly: his nephew was "overwhelmed in the first few weeks of medical school, so I talked to several people in the administration at the BU School of Medicine." The problem was quickly dealt with, and "everything worked out extremely well," says Spivack. "It was then that I realized what special care and thoughtfulness the school provided each of its students. I was genuinely impressed with the empathetic response of faculty and staff, and I thought that some sort of gesture to the school was called for to acknowledge the excellent work done there. After I bestowed the gift, I came to realize the sublime satisfaction and profound rewards of philanthropy. It's a special feeling that stays with you the rest of your life."
Among Spivack's professional positions have been a founder of the Vie de France Corporation, a value engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense, and also a director of value analysis for the Litton Corporation.
Calling behavioral neurosciences "one of the fastest-growing fields of study," Chobanian says that the gift "fits in very closely with many of the goals we are trying to accomplish at the School of Medicine. Jack Spivack is a longtime friend and a founding member of the School of Medicine's Board of Visitors. We are most appreciative of his extraordinary generosity."
— Brian Fitzgerald |
