Sobey Foundation gives $2 million for Alzheimer’s research chair

A $2 million donation to the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation (DMRF) from The Sobey Foundation will be used to establish the DMRF Irene MacDonald Sobey Endowed Chair in Curative Approaches to Alzheimer’s Disease at Dalhousie.

The chair will be held by Dr. Donald Weaver, internationally acclaimed neurologist with Dalhousie Medical School, Capital Health, and the IWK Health Centre. Dr. Weaver is also a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Dalhousie’s Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience.

“It‘s an honour to be selected as the Sobey Chair in Alzheimer’s disease research,” said Dr. Weaver. “It’s deeply gratifying that the Sobey family and The Sobey Foundation has the generosity, courage, and foresight to support the search for a cure for this devastating disease.”

“I must say that I’ve never been happier to support the work of this university than I am with today’s announcement,” said David Sobey, speaking on behalf of The Sobey Foundation. “Battles are being waged on many fronts in the fight against disease, but this one is personal for the Sobey family,” he added, explaining that his mother, for whom the chair is named, suffered from Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. Current estimates cite 30 million sufferers worldwide, and it’s predicted to afflict 1 in 85 people by 2050.

Dr. Weaver, a pioneer in the field of computer-aided drug development, works with his research team using state-of-the-art computer-aided modelling to develop models of a protein called beta-amyloid, which has been implicated as a cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

His efforts have been celebrated with the Prix Galien (considered the Nobel Prize of pharmaceutical research) and the Jonas Salk Award, presented earlier this year from March of Dimes Canada.

The gift from The Sobey Foundation is an opportunity to build on Dr. Weaver’s research to-date, providing stable annual funding to assist his team in its search for a cure.