Donald Weaver: Changing lives, one discovery at a time

Most people who graduate from medical school are thrilled to begin a long and rewarding career helping patients one-by-one and curing illness. Not Dr. Donald Weaver, though. He wanted to discover drugs capable of helping many patients.

Shortly after graduating from medical school, Dr. Weaver went straight back to the classroom, completing his PhD in computational organic chemistry. (He’s actually the only Canadian ever to obtain the degree.) Ever since, Dr. Weaver has worked to connect his two worlds—the research lab with the hospital clinic—in his quest to find cures for major neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s.

His groundbreaking drug development work has earned him countless honours, including the Prix Galien, considered the Nobel Prize of pharmaceutical research. Earlier this month, he traveled to Toronto to accept the 2011 Jonas Salk Award from March of Dimes Canada, an award presented annually to a Canadian scientist or researcher who is making new contributions to prevent, alleviate or eliminate a physical disability.

Read also: “Working to stop Alzheimer’s in its tracks; Donald Weaver wins Jonas Salk Award”

For the last decade, Dr. Weaver and his team have been designing and making molecules that could have the properties to become a drug to treat neurological disorders, particularly Alzheimer’s and epilepsy.

“A drug that finally makes it to patients and changes their lives – that’s a jackpot,” says Dr. Weaver.

Amidst his outstanding dedication to research, Dr. Weaver continues to teach and supervise graduate students. He’s also a practicing neurologist, treating patients who suffer from severe and devastating neurological disorders. In this way, he continues to move meaningfully from lab bench to bedside.

“It’s wonderful to see Dr. Weaver receive such prestigious recognition for the work that he and his team are doing,” says Dr. Tom Marrie, dean of Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine. “Dr. Weaver and his team are making groundbreaking advancements in solving some of the world’s most pressing medical problems.”

Dr. Weaver is confident there will be significant advances in Alzheimer’s-fighting drugs within the next five to 10 years, and he’s hopeful that it will be his team at Dalhousie Medical School—the medical school of the Maritimes since 1868—that makes the discovery.

Photo: Dr. Weaver accepting his Jonas Salk award in Toronto earlier this month. (courtesy March of Dimes)