Leon Thal, 62; his research on enzyme and Alzheimer's led to treatment
LOS ANGELES -- Dr. Leon Thal, a professor at the University of California at San Diego who was one of the world's leading investigators of new therapies for Alzheimer's disease, died in a plane crash Feb. 3 near Borrego Springs, Calif. He was 62.
Dr. Thal was an avid flier who had taken off from Montgomery Field in San Diego for a half-hour flight to Borrego Springs. Dr. Thal's wife reported him missing shortly before his plane's signal was detected by the rescue coordination center at Langley Air Force Base, Va., said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Agency in Los Angeles.
A rescue team later recovered Dr. Thal's body in his plane, a Mooney M20J, in a mountainous area eight miles southwest of Borrego Springs. The crash is under investigation.
Dr. Thal was director of UC San Diego's Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, which was established in 1984.
Since 1994 he also headed the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study, a consortium of 80 clinical sites in the United States and Canada that conduct research on potential treatments.
"He was the catalyst who brought big groups together to work on very complex problems," said Dr. William Thies, vice president of medical and scientific relations for the Chicago-based Alzheimer's Association.
"He was a terrific scientist," Thies added, "but I think one of his great contributions to the field was that he made everyone around him better. He could get people to work together . . . which is not always easy. He had a wonderful touch with people."
Alzheimer's is a degenerative brain disease with no known cure that afflicts 4.5 million Americans, destroying the memories of its victims in stages.
Dr. Thal's fascination with the disease began 30 years ago, when studies led him to focus on the role of the chemical transmitter acetylcholine in learning and memory.
That work led him in 1983 to publish some of the first evidence that memory could be enhanced in Alzheimer's patients by inhibiting production of a brain enzyme called cholinesterase. This finding provided the basis for the first approved drug to stall the progression of Alzheimer's.
He later was involved in studies that disproved the purported benefits of ginkgo biloba, an herbal remedy, and estrogen replacement therapy, treatments that were widely believed to boost memory. He also helped oversee work that showed a modest benefit to Alzheimer's patients who were prescribed vitamin E.
Dr. Thal "led us to a greater understanding of what might work, what doesn't work, and where future research has to go to develop better therapies," said Dr. Mark Tuszynski, vice chairman of UC San Diego's Department of Neurosciences, who knew Dr. Thal for 20 years.
A native of New York City, Dr. Thal earned his medical degree at Downstate Medical Center, part of the State University of New York, in Brooklyn.
In 2004, he won the Potamkin Prize, one of neuroscience's highest honors and the most prestigious award in the field of Alzheimer's research. He shared the $100,000 prize with Dr. Roger Nitsch of Switzerland.
He leaves his wife, Donna, a professor at San Diego State University.
