Donald Price, a pioneer in clinical and experimental neuropathology, has died at age 87

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By Hub staff report

/ Published on May 31, 2023

Donald Lowell Price, a groundbreaking leader in neuroscience and the founding director of the Division of Neuropathology, the Brain Resource Center, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Johns Hopkins, died on May 5 after a long illness. He is 87.

A pioneer in clinical and experimental neuropathology, Price was a beloved faculty member and mentor. In the 1980s, his laboratory made significant contributions to the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. His research on naturally occurring animal diseases, paralleled by human neuropathologic studies, yielded important information about motor neuron disease.

In 1984, under Price’s direction, the first donated brain was stored in the Johns Hopkins Hospital pathology building. Over the next decade, the center branched out and collected the brains of those who died of Huntington’s disease, and in the 1990s, it began storing brains from people who died with Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The center’s collection grew further when its work merged with that of the National Institute on Aging’s Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. The Brain Resource Center performs neuropathology for all study participants who are autopsied.

During Price’s tenure at Johns Hopkins, his research impacted fundamental understanding of the molecular basis and drivers of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases and how the brain ages. Through his scientific insight, Price was instrumental in the development of donepezil, one of the most widely used drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s symptoms. He also developed, with his colleagues, animal models of these human disorders and combined a deep understanding of the pathology with mechanistic and therapeutic advances.

“As great as his science was, perhaps his greatest impact and legacy was in education and training,” said Ralph Hruban, director of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Don trained hundreds of medical and graduate students, residents, and fellows, many of whom went on to distinguished careers in academia.”

“Although his science was very high, perhaps his greatest impact and legacy was in education and training. Don trained hundreds of medical and graduate students, residents, and fellows, many of whom went on to distinguished academic careers.”

Ralph Hruban

Director of Pathology, School of Medicine

Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Price went to Wesleyan University for undergraduate training in English literature, and in 1961, graduated from Albany Medical School. He completed a neurology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, and then a staff neurologist (lieutenant commander) at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He returned to Boston for fellowship training and became assistant professor of neuropathology at Harvard Medical School and director of neuropathology at Boston City Hospital.

In 1971, Price was recruited to Johns Hopkins, where he founded the Division of Neuropathology. He became a professor in 1978 and founded the Brain Resource Center the following year. In 1984, he founded the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, which he directed for three decades. In addition, Price played a critical role in establishing the pathobiology graduate training program at Johns Hopkins.

Elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1998, he became president of the American Association of Neuropathologists in 1989 and the Society for Neuroscience in 2000.

Colleagues say Price’s groundbreaking research, his teaching and his extraordinary mentoring laid the foundation for generations of pathologists to follow.

“As a junior faculty mentor, Don greatly influenced and helped launch my scientific career here at Hopkins,” said Philip Wong, professor of pathology and neuroscience.

Price’s expertise is in high demand in national scientific circles, according to Juan Troncoso, current director of the Johns Hopkins Brain Resource Center.

“In addition to propelling him to an outstanding scientific career, Price’s expertise in medicine, neurology, neuropathology, and cell biology gave him a unique research perspective that made him a highly sought-after advisor to scientists society, research foundations, the National Institutes of Health, US Congress panels, and scientific boards of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies,” said Troncoso.

The author of more than 500 research publications, Price has received numerous awards, including the Soriano Award for Outstanding Contribution to Neuroscience, the Glenn Foundation Award, the Potamkin Prize for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer’s Disease Research, and two Javits Neuroscience Investigator Merit awards.

After retiring in 2010, Price remained active as a professor emeritus of pathology, neurology, and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins. An avid swimmer, Price had a competitive spirit and ran in races and triathlons. Because of his love of classic literature and music, scientific conversations with him easily strayed into discussions of Shakespeare or Dante, Troncoso said, noting that paper and grant reviews were often accompanied by music. by Wagner or Puccini.

“Our father was a strong believer in the importance of education,” recalled his son, William L. Price, an emergency medicine physician. “He taught us, as well as all the people he taught, that you don’t just go through an education to learn something, but to learn how to educate yourself for life. He offers to read all of his trainees’ paper before submission. He would mark them and then discuss changes with them. As a result, he helped make everyone he taught better writers.”

Price is survived by his loving wife of 67 years, Helen, their three children: William; Elaine Price-Schwartz, a pediatric ophthalmologist; and Donald L. Price Jr., a neurologist who completed a neuropathology fellowship; and eight grandchildren. A memorial service is planned at Wilkerson Funeral Home in Greenville, North Carolina, and a celebration of life will be held at a later date at Johns Hopkins.

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