NIH Remembers Alzheimer’s Researcher Buckholtz
Former NIH researcher Dr. Neil S. Buckholtz passed away on March 24 after a brief illness.
A fervent advocate for “open science,” one of his most lasting legacies is the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a massive data-sharing effort based on the idea that public research institutions and private pharmaceutical companies collaborate, rather than compete, to advance progress.
ADNI was the first large-scale study that made all data available to the scientific community at large. It inspired many research breakthroughs and created a norm for sharing scientific data funded by the public.
“Neil played a critical role in the ADNI, a truly groundbreaking initiative, that pulled together multiple pharma companies with NIA [National Institute on Aging] and other NIH partners,” said NIA Director Dr. Richard Hodes. “It is widely recognized as innovative as a public-private partnership and for its insistence on making all data immediately available to the research community. These are practices that we now take for granted, but the work led by Neil 20 years ago established the pathway.”
Buckholtz’s long career as a scientific researcher began at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1971. He began working at the National Institute of Mental Health in 1983. Buckholtz rose to the position of director, Division of Neuroscience, at NIA, where he led all NIH-supported research on Alzheimer’s and other dementias until his retirement in 2015.
He is survived by Marjorie, his wife of nearly 60 years, four children and five grandchildren.
As a career civil servant and veteran of the Public Health Service, Buckholtz was devoted to the public good and honored to work on behalf of the American people. He remained active in the field of Alzheimer’s research until his death.