ASU Hosts WTMA Distinguished Lectureship in Science

According to a press release today, Dr. Huda Y. Zoghbi, a professor of pediatrics, neurology, neuroscience, and molecular and human genetics at the Baylor University College of Medicine, will deliver Angelo State University’s 40th annual West Texas Medical Associates Distinguished Lectureship in Science Honoring Dr. Roy E. Moon. The event will take place Tuesday, March 29, in the Houston Harte University Center located at 1910 Rosemont Drive.

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Zoghbi will present “On the Level: Equilibrium on the Brain” at 2 p.m. and then “The Story of Rett Syndrome: Insight into Neuropsychiatric Disorders” at 8 p.m. in the University Center’s C.J. Davidson Conference Center. Both lectures are open and free to the public.

Being the director of Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Zoghbi is one of the world’s leading experts on the rare Rett syndrome and other neurological disorders.

A native of Beirut, Zoghbi began her medical training at American University of Beirut in 1973, but left Lebanon for the U.S. before completing medical school when civil war broke out and her house was damaged by bombs. She went on to graduate from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, and joined the Baylor College of Medicine pediatrics residency program. Her interest then turned from pediatric neurology to genetics research in 1983 after she encountered two patients with Rett syndrome. Rett syndrome is a disabling neurodevelopmental disease characterized by loss of speech and constant hand-wringing. She became dedicated to understanding healthy brain development and what goes awry in specific neurological disorders.

Despite her main interest in Rett syndrome, Zoghbi began her research career working on spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA1), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. In 1993, she and her research collaborators identified the gene responsible for SCA1. They also went on to demonstrate that the misfolding, aggregation and degradation of the gene play a role in the disorder, a finding relevant to other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

In August 1999, Zoghbi’s group identified the gene that causes Rett syndrome and found that mutations in the gene can also result in learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. Further research on animal models of the Math1 gene, which is important for coordination and the sense of position in space, has shed light on diverse physiological areas, including balance, deafness, respiration and intestinal development. Her current efforts include translating these discoveries into pharmacological interventions.

In 2004, Zoghbi was elected to the National Academy of Sciences for her research on the molecular genetics of neurological disorders. She is also a member of the Institute of Medicine, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Lebanese National Academy of Science, and she was named an honorary doctor of medical sciences by Yale University. Her many other honors and awards include the E. Mead Johnson Award from the Society of Pediatric Research, IPSEN Prize in Neuronal Plasticity, Bristol Myers-Squibb Neuroscience Distinguished Achievement Award, Vilcek Prize, Gruber Prize in Neuroscience, Dickson Prize in Medicine, March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, Mortimer D. Sackler M.D. Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Developmental Biology and the American Task Force for Lebanon Award.

The WTMA Lectureship honors Dr. Roy E. Moon, a longtime San Angelo obstetrician and gynecologist, who died in 1976. He practiced for 28 years with Clinic Hospital Medical Associates, now West Texas Medical Associates. The lectureship was established in 1976 and is underwritten by a grant to ASU from the members of WTMA.

Each year, the lectureship brings a scientist of national prominence to ASU for public lectures, colloquia and informal discussions. The selection committee is chaired by Dr. Paul Swets, dean of the ASU College of Arts and Sciences, and includes Dr. David Bixler, chair of the Physics and Geosciences Department; Dr. Crosby Jones, professor of biology; Dr. John Osterhout, chair of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department; WTMA physicians Dr. Kelly Hallmark, Dr. Colleen Heartsill and Dr. Joe Wilkinson; and retired physician Dr. Fazlur Rahman.

For more information, call the ASU College of Arts and Sciences at 325-486-6829.