Banner Alzheimer's Institute Executive Director, Dr. Eric Reiman, Named a Rock Star of Science ™ in GQ's December 'Men of the Year' Edition

PHOENIX, Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Eric M. Reiman, M.D., Executive Director of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute, has been recognized as a 2010 Rock Star of Science™, joining a select group of scientific leaders and Rock Stars in a campaign to celebrate biomedical research. Dr. Reiman is internationally recognized for his contributions to brain imaging research, the unusually early detection and tracking of Alzheimer's disease, and the effort to find demonstrably effective treatments to prevent Alzheimer's symptoms as soon as possible. Dr. Reiman joined Alzheimer's disease researchers Drs. Michael Weiner and Frank Longo and Rock Star Bret Michaels in a designer photo shoot for the December issue of GQ Magazine, which pays tribute to "scientific heroes" in medical research. He and 16 of the nation's top medical researchers, including two Nobel laureates, turned in their lab coats for the photo shoot as part of the GEOFFREY BEENE GIVES BACK® public service campaign to promote awareness about the value of biomedical research.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101117/LA03909)

(Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20101117/LA03909)

Dubbed Rock Stars of Science™ (ROCK S.O.S.™), this special six-page, public service campaign to promote medical research appears in GQ's December "Men of the Year" edition, available nationally on November 23rd.

"The R.S.O.S.™ campaign shines the spotlight on this critical national issue," says G. Thompson Hutton, CEO and Trustee of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation, supported by the designer menswear brand Geoffrey Beene, LLC, which dedicates 100 percent of net profits to philanthropic causes. "If we invest in research, we will save lives now and trillions of dollars later."

The need to shine a spotlight on biomedical research is supported by Harris Interactive and Research!America surveys, which find that the public is out of touch with the scientific community. Nearly half of those polled couldn't name a single living scientist.

"It is an unusual honor to work with these accomplished researchers and musicians, to help underscore the importance of medical research, and to help attract the very best students to science and medicine," Dr. Reiman. "I'm neither a Rock Star nor a solo act, but I am grateful to my family, colleagues, and research participants for chance to pursue my professional dreams."

Dr. Reiman also serves as Chief Scientific Officer at the Banner Research Institute, Clinical Director of the Neurogenomics Division at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona, and Director of the Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium. His research interests include brain imaging, genomics, the unusually early detection, tracking & study of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the rapid evaluation of AD-modifying and prevention therapies. He and his colleagues have argued that it takes too many healthy people and too many years to evaluate treatments to prevent AD, and they have proposed a new paradigm to evaluate promising prevention therapies more quickly than otherwise possible.

Dr. Reiman and his colleagues have proposed scientific strategies and public policies to find demonstrably effective treatments to prevent Alzheimer's disease as quickly as possible. Their Alzheimer Prevention Initiative is designed to evaluate some of the most promising prevention therapies sooner than otherwise possible in people who, based on their age and genetic background, are at the highest imminent risk of developing Alzheimer's disease symptoms. It is also designed to provide the evidence needed to rapidly evaluate the range of promising prevention therapies using brain imaging and other biological measurement of the disease, long before the onset of memory and thinking problems.

Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health and one of the 2009 Rock Stars of Science, agrees it takes a powerful stand for research to make a difference. "Scientists must venture outside their comfort zones to show the public how cool – and how important – their work really is," said Collins. "I'm thrilled to see all of these big-name musicians using their star power to shine a spotlight on science. However, it is only the beginning. I urge every scientist to get into the act by telling friends, neighbors, community leaders, and elected officials about his or her research and what it means for our nation's health. Imagine how powerful that would be."

In addition to the GQ Magazine photo spread, ROCK S.O.S™ will be supported by the website: www.rockstarsofscience.org.  The site will profile the scientists, their teams, and their research institutions. Readers will also have the opportunity to celebrate their own Rock Docs, and qualify for limited edition campaign giveaways.

The 17 distinguished researchers featured in the 2010 RSOS™ GQ campaign are:

• Stephen B. Baylin, M.D., Deputy Director, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins; Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) Dream Team Leader
• Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate; AACR President; Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, UCSF;  Member, Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) Scientific Advisory Committee
• Rear Admiral Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A. (ret.), Former U.S. Assistant Surgeon General, Director, Health and Medicine, Center for the Study of the Presidency/Congress.
• Dr. Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Autism Speaks, Founding Director, University of Washington Autism Center.
• Frank L. Douglas, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO, Austen BioInnovation Institute
• Bernard A. Harris, Jr., M.D., MBA, FACP, former NASA astronaut; Founder and President, The Harris Foundation
• Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., Asst. Professor, Medicine, Hematologic Malignancies, UCSD, Director, Stem Cell Research, Moores UCSD Cancer Center
• Emil Kakkis, M.D., Ph.D., President, Kakkis EveryLife Foundation
• Frank M. Longo, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, Dept of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University Medical School, Founder, Pharmatrophix.
• Joan Massague, Ph.D., Chair, Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Executive Committee, Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center
• Mehmet Oz, M.D., Vice-Chair and Professor of Surgery, Columbia University; Director, Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine, NYPH, Host, Doctor Oz Show
• Eric M. Reiman, M.D., Executive Director, Banner Alzheimer's Institute and Director of the Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium
• Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate; Institute Professor, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, MIT; Chairperson, Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) Scientific Advisory Committee
• Charles L. Sawyers, M.D., Chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Executive Committee, Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center  
• Craig B. Thompson, M.D., President/CEO, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), Chairman, Executive Committee, Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center
• Mehmet Toner, Ph.D., Helen Andrus Benedict Professor of Surgery (Bioengineering), Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; SU2C Dream Team Co-leader  
• Michael W. Weiner, M.D., Director, Principal Investigator, ADNI (Alzheimer's Disease Neuro-Imaging Initiative) Professor, Medicine, Radiology, and Psychiatry, UCSF

ROCK S.O.S™ is a trademark of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation, supported by the designer menswear brand, GEOFFREY BEENE (www.geoffreybeene.com). 100% of net profits from GEOFFREY BEENE, LLC fund philanthropic causes.  More than $145 million in value has been funded by Geoffrey Beene entities toward a variety of causes like Cancer, Alzheimer, Heart, Veteran's support, welfare of women and children, protection of animals, and other critical causes.  

GQ Magazine

GQ is the leading men's general-interest magazine, with a monthly readership of 7 million readers. It is available in print, online at GQ.com, and as an app at iTunes.com. The magazine is published by Conde Nast, a division of Advance Publications. Conde Nast operates in twenty-five countries and is the world leader in exceptional content creation.  

About Banner Alzheimer's Institute

Banner Alzheimer's Institute is an outpatient treatment and research facility dedicated to fight against Alzheimer's disease. Its three-part mission: to find demonstrably effective treatments to end Alzheimer's disease without losing a generation, as exemplified by its proposed Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative; to set a new standard of care that more fully addresses the medical and non-medical needs of  patients and families; and to help forge a model of collaboration in biomedical research, as reflected by its role in the Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium. Banner Alzheimer's Institute is owned and operated by Phoenix-based Banner Health, one of the nation's largest nonprofit health care organizations and named in 2010 as one of the Top Ten Hospital Systems by Thomson Reuters. For more information, visit www.banneralz.org.

About Banner Alzheimer's Foundation

Banner Alzheimer's Foundation, a partner to Banner Health Foundation, secures and stewards charitable contributions to advance Banner Health's mission to make a difference in people's lives through excellent patient care. Specifically, contributions to Banner Alzheimer's Foundation support the nonprofit Banner Alzheimer's Institute in its mission to end Alzheimer's disease without losing a generation while setting a new standard of care for patients and families. Banner Alzheimer's Foundation is supported by the generosity of individuals, corporations and foundations. For more information, visit www.BannerHealth.org/AlzFoundation.

About Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium

The Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium is the nation's leading example of statewide collaboration in Alzheimer's disease research. This non-profit research organization capitalizes on the complementary resources of its seven member institutions to promote the scientific understanding and early detection of Alzheimer's disease and find demonstrably effective disease-modifying and prevention therapies. It also seeks to educate Arizona's residents about Alzheimer's disease, research progress in the state and the resources needed to help patients, families, and professionals manage the disease.  The Consortium is comprised of both the National Institute on Aging-funded Arizona Disease Core Center and the state-funded Arizona Alzheimer's Research Center.  Its member research institutions include Arizona State University, the Banner Alzheimer's Institute, the Barrow Neurological Institute, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Sun Health Research Institute, the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the University of Arizona. For more information, visit www.azalz.org.

SOURCE Banner Alzheimer's Institute