8 - Setting Up Our Labs and Clinic

Summary

Abstract: At Ann Arbor, Anne applied for grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which she received. Sid Gilman suggested Anne speak with her health science administrator (HSA) Nancy Wexler for advice. Wexler told Anne her grant proposal was accepted. With the grants, Anne and Jack could spend 80 percent of their time in the laboratory and 20 percent of their time seeing patients (one day a week). The experiments Anne proposed turned out to be complete failures. She decided that it was not worth pursuing further. Instead, Anne and Jack used their time to study the main pathways of the motor system. Jack did the surgery, made and evaluated the lesions and Anne conducted the biochemical experiments. They proposed the idea of a Movement Disorders Clinic to Sid. They hoped to focus on Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and related disorders. Movement disorders fascinated both Anne and Jack because it was a subspecialty relying on direct patient observation. With the stability provided by the grants, Anne and Jack decided to have another child, Ellen. Anne met Nancy Wexler at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Atlanta after Ellen was born.