 |
|
Former UC Irvine neuroscientist Edward G. Jones dies at 72
Internationally respected expert led groundbreaking research into the foundations of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia
Jones, who joined the faculty of the University of California, Davis in 1998, will be remembered by friends and colleagues as a consummate scientist and giant in the field of neuroscience research, education and faculty mentorship.
“Dr. Jones’ legacy includes seminal contributions to basic neuroscience, including advancing our understanding of brain disorders, direction of the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience, and remarkable, classic books on the thalamus,” said Cameron Carter, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and psychology at UC Davis who has served as interim director of the Center for Neuroscience since Jones’ retirement in 2009. “Dr. Jones will be deeply missed.”
A pre-eminent neuroanatomist, Jones joined the UC Irvine faculty in
1984 as chair of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology—a position
he held for more than 11 years. In 1998, he became director of the UC
Davis Center for Neuroscience and professor of psychiatry and behavioral
sciences at the UC Davis School of Medicine. In the same year, he
ascended to the presidency of the international Society for
Neuroscience. In 2004, he was elected to membership in National Academy
of Sciences. Through these and other leadership positions, he promoted
the integration of approaches in cellular and molecular biology to
neuroscience research and recruited scientists across multiple
disciplines to address fundamental questions about brain function and
dysfunction in neurological and psychiatric diseases. After his
retirement, Jones continued to conduct research and held a 35 percent
appointment as a professor in the Department of Physiology and Membrane
Biology.
“Ted Jones will be remembered for his outstanding
leadership, innovative research and passionate commitment to advancing
knowledge of the underlying biological and genetic basis of psychiatric
diseases,” said Claire Pomeroy, vice chancellor for human health
sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at UC Davis. “UC Davis’
position as a world leader in neuroscience is a lasting legacy of Ted’s
collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to discovery and education.”
During
his 11-year tenure as director, the Center for Neuroscience became an
internationally recognized center for leading-edge research and a model
for integrating neuroscience research across multiple UC Davis centers
and programs, including the Center for Mind and Brain, the MIND
Institute and the Imaging Research Center.
“Ted Jones’
commitment to excellence—and his vision for integrating cognitive and
molecular approaches through the faculty he hired—established the UC
Davis Center for Neuroscience as an international leader in exploring
the relationship between the mind and the brain,” said Kenneth C.
Burtis, dean of UC Davis' College of Biological Sciences.
Jones,
an authority on brain anatomy and a leading researcher on the central
nervous system, wrote more than 20 books and more than 400 scientific
publications. He also conducted groundbreaking work on schizophrenia,
focusing on how changes at the molecular and cellular levels are
associated with the disorder. His studies showed that seemingly minute
abnormalities in human brains can cause chemical imbalances and lead to
schizophrenia and other serious, long-term nervous-system disorders.
Jones had a special interest in studying the role of the thalamus in
coordinating and regulating cortical function associated with
consciousness, perception and arousal. His many investigations on the
anatomy and physiology of its circuitry resulted in his developing the
matrix-core theory of organization, a major contribution in the field
for which he received the Karl Spencer Lashley Award from the American
Philosophical Society in 2001.
His studies of activity-dependent
plasticity of the somatosensory cortex and thalamus became a basis for
understanding recovery of function after peripheral and central neural
damage after strokes or cerebral trauma. He also thought it might be
possible to force adaptive changes in an undamaged brain that is in some
way compromised, such as in the case of learning disabilities, autism
and attention disorders.
Jones belonged to a group of scientists
working on the nation's Human Brain Project, which supported the
development of databases on the brain and of technologies to manage and
share neuroscience information. He was involved in the preparation of
atlas-based databases of monkey and human brain anatomy, and in the
molecular/genetic analysis of brains from schizophrenic and depressed
patients and controls. He was also a historian of neuroscience and an
expert on the life and achievements of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, a Spanish
pathologist and Nobel laureate considered by many to be the father of
modern neuroscience.
Jones was born in Upper Hutt, Wellington,
New Zealand in 1939. He received his medical degree in 1962 from the
University of Otago Medical School and his doctoral degree in
neuroanatomy in 1968 from the University of Oxford, England. After
teaching at Oxford and in New Zealand, he joined the faculty of
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., as an
associate professor of anatomy in 1972, and rose through the ranks to
become a full professor and hold the George H. and Ethel Ronzoni Bishop
Scholar in Neuroscience endowed chair in 1981. From 1988 to 1996, he led
the Neural Systems Laboratory, Frontier Research Program in Brain
Mechanisms of Mind and Behavior, RIKEN, Japan.
Jones’ wife of 48 years, Elizabeth Sue Jones, described him as “a
loving father and husband who was devoted to his family and his work.”
Jones is survived by his two children, Christopher and Phillipa, and his
three grandchildren, Mike, Susannah and Emily.
The family has
arranged a memorial service on the UC Davis campus on June 17 at 11 a.m.
at the Buehler Alumni/Visitors Center. Another event to celebrate
Jones’ life and scientific legacy will be held in the summer to allow
colleagues from throughout the world to participate. The UC Davis Center
for Neuroscience also will be establishing a blog for faculty,
students, colleagues and friends to share their experiences with Jones.
For more information, contact Cameron Carter at cameron.carter@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu or Buck Marcussen at whmarcussen@ucdavis.edu.
