News & Media
Neuro News May 2011
The Neuro News is a monthly electronic newsletter highlighting activities at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital. If you have any comments, please send them to Communications. To subscribe and receive e-mail notification when a new issue becomes available, click here.
May 2011
Director's Corner
Earlier this month, hundreds of you gathered at The Neuro to celebrate Warren Chippindale’s life and honour his memory. Warren’s enormous contributions to McGill and to The Neuro were recognized in 1995, when McGill honored him with an honorary doctorate, and in 2004 when The Neuro honored him with The Lifetime Achievement Career Award for his contributions. He received the Order of Canada in 1997.
For this month’s Director’s Corner, I have invited Richard Murphy,
former Neuro Director (1992-2000), and President of the Salk Institute
(2000-2007) and close friend of Warren’s, to share his reflections on
Warren’s generous and meaningful life. The comments below are excerpted
from Dr. Murphy’s eulogy that day.
David Colman
Over the 19-years that I knew Warren, he became a close business associate, my best personal advisor, and a dear friend. How did Warren become such an important person to so many of us? Why was he such a successful businessman, such an important friend, and such an effective advisor in helping us problem solve? I’ve pondered these questions...and I would like to give you some of my own thoughts in answer.
First, Warren was solidly grounded in knowing who he was, and this played a large role in his effectiveness. No one carried less personal baggage than he did. He grew up in a loving family and had an especially close relationship with his father, who lived well into his 90’s and, like Warren, was in the financial business.
Warren distinguished himself as a student athlete at McGill, which he loved attending, and after graduation worked his way up to become one of Canada’s leading and most trusted accountants, ending his career as Chairman of Coopers Lybrand International. He was well known and respected in the Canadian business community, and he served on the Boards of some of Canada’s leading companies, including Alcan, Bell, and Molson’s Brewing, to name a few.
This combination of athletic and business achievements surely contributed to Warren’s confidence, making him comfortable in his own skin.
Another of Warren’s great assets was his humility. Despite the recognition he earned from his business successes, Warren came off as an uncomplicated, totally unpretentious person. He never tried to impress anyone with his accomplishments or connections. If anything, he downplayed them...
Warren was remarkably loyal to everything he cared about: his family, his friends, and the businesses he ran... And he was staunchly committed to McGill and to The Neuro, because he felt they were examples of Canadian excellence and worthy of his philanthropic and volunteer support.
Because he loved McGill, Warren gave back: he served on McGill’s Board of Trustees, significantly helped in University fundraising, and worked with the University on assorted high-priority projects...
Within McGill, The Neuro was Warren’s great interest, for he felt it was a true center of excellence that was creating new knowledge about the brain and its diseases and providing first-rate care to people in need. For that reason, in 1984, at the request of David Johnston, Warren began a remarkable 27-year run advising three MNI directors, including Don Baxter, me, and currently Dave Colman. We all agree that Warren was our most important compass...
So: solid grounding in his family and business successes, innate abilities mixed with humility, and loyalty to people and to causes were three of Warren’s great strengths.
What else contributed to his effectiveness?
Integrity needs to be high on the list: Warren was meticulously honest. He dealt with people in a straight up and transparent way, which earned him tremendous respect among his peers. We all strive to be honest and straightforward, but for Warren it was engrained in his DNA.
Another of Warren’s greatest strengths was his analytical, problem-solving skill. Warren had a dazzling ability to look objectively at a situation, break it down into its component parts, and then put the pieces together to come up with solutions. That’s why he was such a tremendous businessman and advisor.
Having asked Warren for advice for 19 years, I recognized that he followed a certain pattern:
First, he would listen - REALLY listen, because he wanted to get all the facts right, to understand the sensitivities of the people involved, and to formulate questions about what he didn’t understand. Warren never wanted to make a decision or recommendation until he was sure it was based on correct information.
Second, any solution that didn’t meet the smell test was never even discussed. You knew that Warren would never cut corners on principles or the truth, so you could assume that whatever solution he came up with was morally right for the organizations and for the people involved. That was simply a given.
Third, he would always put himself into the other’s person’s shoes to understand their motives -- what was driving them -- and to explore whether an agreement could be reached by meeting their needs halfway. Empathy -- awareness of the needs of others -- was another of Warren’s great strengths.
And finally, he would come up with an answer or recommendation, but often this would be preceded by a request for more time: “I need to think about it a bit,” he would say. In a day or two, he would be back with perspectives about the problem that had totally eluded me, and a game plan that caused me to shake my head in disbelief, asking how did he come up with that? He was incredibly creative that way, and most of the time his solutions worked...
But Warren was never a pushover. If he thought the other side was dealing under the table, being unreasonable in their demands, or, asking for something that was not, for example, in McGill’s or The Neuro’s interest, Warren would be tough in standing his ground and saying no. One didn’t want to be on the wrong side of an issue Warren felt strongly about.
Warren is gone now, but his memory will live with us forever. And weren’t we all privileged to have known him? If Warren were here...he would be embarrassed by all this praise. But I don’t think he would be embarrassed if we remembered him by living the lessons he taught us: being grounded and comfortable with who we are, being devoted to family, being loyal to friends and associates, committing time and talent to the causes we believe in, being humble rather than pretentious, living our lives with integrity and truthfulness, being empathetic to the needs of others, and using our talents to help people who are doing good things for society.
Warren we miss you, but thank you for the memories, thank you for being our friend, and thank you for the indelible lessons you have left us.
Richard Murphy
Dr. Murphy currently lives in Belmont, Massachusetts.
Please send any comments about the Director's Corner to David Colman
Recent News
Two Neuro scientists win Chercheurs Nationaux awards
Neuro scientists receive funding for music cognition
research
A multi-institutional team of researchers who study the brain, language and
music will receive financial support for this work from the Quebec
government over the next 6 years. Scientists from The Neuro, including
Robert Zatorre, Denise Klein, Bruce Pike and Etienne de Villiers-Sidani,
will collaborate with colleagues from McGill University and from the
Université de Montréal to address questions about how the brain learns,
processes and responds to language and music. This team was selected for
support by Le Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les
technologies and Le Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la
culture.
Friends remember Warren Chippindale
The Chippindale family hosted a memorial service for their patriarch,
Warren, on May 7 at The Neuro. Linda Gendron, oldest of Warren and Cherry’s
five children, explained that The Neuro was a fitting place to remember her
father since he was a dedicated volunteer at The Neuro who was recognized
and honored for his wise counsel and his notable success in securing
philanthropic support. Warren was remembered by his son John; colleague,
friend and former Neuro Director Richard Murphy; and by his dear friend
‘Uncle Bud’ Iredale who recounted how friends in Tremblant affectionately
referred to their families as ‘Upper Dales’ and the ‘Lower Dales’. Leaders
from The Neuro Advisory Board, former colleagues from the business
community and the many friends who were privileged to know Warren paid
their respects to his wife Joan Radcliffe-Branch Chippindale, to the
Chippindale and Radcliffe-Branch children and grandchildren.
Cathy Hunt recognized for outstanding work
BTRC donor wall unveiled
Donors to the Brain Tumour Research Centre (BTRC) had their names inscribed
on the Donor Wall that was unveiled in a ceremony hosted by Jacques Bougie.
BTRC Director Rolando Del Maestro and Kevin Petrecca discussed the
importance of research for advancing the treatment for patients with brain
tumours and BTRC scientists were on hand to showcase their work. Among the
guests were political leader Pauline Marois who returned to witness the
progress in science since the 2002 BTRC opening that she attended with then
Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Yves Ferland, volunteer and former patient of
neurosurgeon Jeff Hall, shared his view of how the work of clinical and
research professionals contributes to the wellbeing of every patient and
family member who is treated at The Neuro. The Neuro community thanks the
many supporters who have made this work possible.
Upcoming Events
Herbert Jasper Lecture, May 17
Barry Connor, Chair of Neuroscience at Brown University, will deliver the
Herbert Jasper lecture at 4 pm, May 17 in the Jeanne Timmins Amphitheatre.
His talk will be What are electrical synapses doing in the mammalian
forebrain? Herbert Jasper was recruited to The Neuro from Brown
University in 1946 by Wilder Penfield who saw the potential of Jasper’s
pioneering work on recording from the live, functioning brain.
Neuro Convocation, May 19
Some of the outstanding members of The Neuro community have been chosen by
their colleagues to receive honors at The Neuro Convocation. Lifetime
Achievement awards will go to Chief Financial Officer Tom Gevas, Professor
Dan Guitton, and the Molson family and the Molson Foundation, sustaining
friends and supporters of The Neuro. Ed Ruthazer will receive the Young
Investigator award and the Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Team will be
recognized for their excellence in patient care with the Outstanding Team
Award. All are invited to recognize these achievements and to celebrate
with the awardees at 3 pm in the Jeanne Timmins Amphitheatre.
Albert Aguayo Lecture, May 25
Nobel Laureate Robert Horvitz will deliver the Albert Aguayo Lecture on May
25. Horvitz is Professor of Biology at MIT and Howard Hughes Medical
Institute Investigator. All are welcome to his talk, Programmed cell
death in development and disease, at 4:30 pm in the Jeanne Timmins
Amphitheatre and to the reception that will follow.
Graduate Students’ Association for Neuroscience (GSAN) Research
Day, May 26
Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in neuroscience will present
their research and have lunch with some of the outstanding neuroscience
faculty on GSAN Research Day. A keynote lecture by Amir Raz, Canada
Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention at McGill, will take
place at 4 pm in the Jeanne Timmins Amphitheatre, and a reception will
follow at Thompson House. All are welcome to attend at no charge but must
register in advance at www.mni-gsa.ca.
Neurology Day, June 1
Sam Berkovic, Professor of Neurology at the University of Melbourne, will
deliver the Donald Baxter Lecture entitled Genetics of epilepsy:
Clinical research in the era of massive parallel sequencing at 4 pm on
June 1 in the de Grandpré Communications Centre. Earlier in the day at 2
pm, neurology residents will present their research and at 3 pm clinical
leaders in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery will announce the
newly established Frederick Andermann Fellowship in Epileptology and EEG
that is partially funded by UCB, a global biopharma company.
Enjoy a picnic in the park on Neuro Family Day, June
18
Bring the family and join your friends at Neuro Family Day on Saturday,
June 18, in Pierre Elliot Trudeau Park, 6985 Mackle Road, Cote Saint-Luc,
near Cavendish Mall. Just like last year, we will be grilling burgers, hot
dogs and veggie dogs to go with chips, beer, soda and sweets for you and
your family. There’s a sprinkler park, roller hockey arena, sand and
playground, and peddle boats for all to enjoy and we will have some games
and toys to share. It would help us plan if we know you are coming, so
please contact Debbie at
514-398-6047. We are recruiting Grill Masters if anyone wants a real hot
job!
In the News
The work of scientists and clinicians at The Neuro is frequently in the news so you can stay up to date by following our media coverage.
Tom Gevas, The Neuro’s Chief Financial Officer and Associate Director, was interviewed for an article in The Gazette regarding the Neuro’s future location.
Congratulations to ...
The twenty Neuro employees who passed an impressive milestone with 25 or more years of service, and who through their commitment help to fulfill the mission of The Neuro. For these many years of service, we thank Alexander Arenas, Julius Bermillo, Dolores Cumberbatch-Curvan, Nicole Dionne, Nicole Drouin, Joao Ferreira, Richard Fukasawa, Roger Gratton, Dean Job, Marie-Claude Lesieur, Nelson Ortizo, Denise Plante, Danielle Robert, Deborah Rowat, Daphne Russell-Promesse, Kevin Scott, Danica Skrly, Tsenta Maria Spiliadis, Renata Tiseo, Ivan Woods and Stavroula Zombolas.
Rolando Del Maestro, who curated an exhibition from his Leonardo da Vinci collection that will be on display at Montreal’s Centre Leonardo da Vinci from May 11 to June 5. Del Maestro has one of the largest private collections on da Vinci and will share his expertise on the artist’s life and influence in free, public lectures on May 13, 14 and 21.
Director - David R. Colman, PhD
Senior Management - Martine Alfonso; Mark Angle, MD; Phil Barker, PhD; Rob
Dunn, PhD; Lucia Fabijan; Tom Gevas; Elizabeth Kofron, PhD; Catherine Rowe;
Donatella Tampieri, MD
Neuro News: Elizabeth Kofron, PhD & Sandra McPherson, PhD
Please send any items for the Neuro News to Sandra McPherson or Beth Kofron.
