Donald Brian Calne
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Dr. Donald B. Calne
Biography
Contact
Room M36, UBC Hospital, Purdy Pavilion
2221 Wesbrook Mall,
Vancouver BC, V6T 2B5. Fax 604 822 7866
References
Dr. D.B. Calne. (n.d.). Pacific Parkinson's Research Centre Home. Retrieved June 17, 2012, from http://www.parkinsons.ubc.ca/Dr.D.B.Calne.htm
science.ca Profile : Donald Brian Calne. (n.d.). science.ca. Retrieved June 17, 2012, from http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=327
- He was born May 4, 1936 in London, England,
- He received his Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Medicine degrees from the University of Oxford.
- He worked as a neurologist at the Hammersmith Hospital and Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London and as Clinical Director and Chief of the Experimental Therapeutics Branch of the National Institutes of Neurological Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland until 1980.
- From 1981 to 2001, he was the Director of the Neurodegenerative Disorders Centre at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and a professor of neurology.
- He is now a member of the National Parkinson Foundation's Scientific Advisory Board.
- Devoted his life to the study of Parkinson's and other degenerative diseases of the brain.
- In the 1960s, Oleh Hornykiewicz, a doctor in Vienna, first used levodopa (L-dopa) to replace dopamine in the brain and treat the disease. However, prolonged L-dopa use resulted in side effects with a possibility of total disability.
- Calne introduced the first synthetic dopamine agonist (a drug which mimics dopamine in effect) that was free of some of the fluctuations in motor control that resulted from using of L-dopa.
- His research increased the understanding of the mechanism of Parkinson's.
- He was the first to observe latent damage in the brain before symptoms of Parkinson's appear, and, with Dr. J.W. Kebabian, defined the two types of dopamine receptors.
- Now a Director of the Neurodegenerative Disorders Centre at UBC, he and a team of 13 researchers are using brain imaging technology to find better and more specific means of treating Parkinson's. The team is testing the effectiveness of electro-convulsive therapy and investigating the role of early viral exposure in increasing the risk of Parkinson's.
- Calne has published over 500 papers and chapters on neurology, as well as several books, including Neurodegenerative Diseases, 1994, and Within Reason: Rationality and Human Behavior, 1999.
Contact
Room M36, UBC Hospital, Purdy Pavilion
2221 Wesbrook Mall,
Vancouver BC, V6T 2B5. Fax 604 822 7866
References
Dr. D.B. Calne. (n.d.). Pacific Parkinson's Research Centre Home. Retrieved June 17, 2012, from http://www.parkinsons.ubc.ca/Dr.D.B.Calne.htm
science.ca Profile : Donald Brian Calne. (n.d.). science.ca. Retrieved June 17, 2012, from http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=327