Professor Donald Weaver has won the silver Oskar Fischer Prize for his research into Alzheimer's disease. The award, which comes with a $400,000 (USD) prize, is handed out by the University of Texas at San Antonio College of Sciences and rewards innovative ideas that look beyond the dominant theories around the causes of the disease.
Weaver is a practicing neurologist and chemist, and is Director of the Krembil Research Institute within the University Health Network of Hospitals affiliated with the University of Toronto, Canada. He is also a Professor of Neurology and Chemistry at the University of Toronto.
Weaver's research has helped support a hypothesis that Alzheimer's is actually an autoimmune disease that can be tackled by exploiting how our bodies naturally control our immune system.
In the Globe and Mail, Weaver says: "What this [prize] gives us is external validation and external support and belief that our approach has value, and indeed, may have value leading to alternative therapeutic directions for Alzheimer’s disease.”