The Lefler Center supports innovative projects by researchers at all career stages, including graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and principal investigators. Grants have been awarded to bench and clinical scientists at Harvard Medical School and at Harvard-affiliated research hospitals. A dynamic community of researchers facilitates synergy across disciplines, combining perspectives from research laboratories and clinical care settings.
The Founders
Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler pioneered the field of direct mail and materials handling. In 1946 they founded The Mailing House, Inc. in Los Angeles, CA. Over time, they established a substantial nest egg, but the Leflers had no heirs. Edward Lefler died in May 1994, after suffering for ten years from Alzheimer’s disease. In their will, the Leflers specified that most of their estate be used to study the disease, in hopes of alleviating the suffering of others like them. The trustee of their estate, Daniel L. Bernstein, undertook to realize the couple’s wishes. In 1995, Dan Bernstein and the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School established The Lefler Center for the Study of Neurodegenerative Disorders.
The Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professorship
David Ginty, PhD is the Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology. The Lefler Professorship at Harvard Medical School makes it possible for the Department of Neurobiology to support an outstanding neuroscientist whose research complements the Department’s mission and whose leadership and mentoring will inspire Lefler Fellows.
“I am honored to represent the vision of the Leflers and the Bernsteins. Over the past 20 years, their generous support enabled and encouraged us to deepen our understanding of brain development, plasticity, neural circuits and mechanisms that underlie behavior and nervous system diseases. Only by understanding the basic processes in brain development and function can we comprehend what goes wrong in disease states. In the next decade and beyond, through the continued efforts of the Lefler community of scholars, I fully anticipate a world where we can better serve patients and families suffering from nervous system disease, thereby realizing the dream of Edward and Anne Lefler.”
Previous honorees of the Lefler Professorship
Joseph Boyd Martin, MD, PhD is the Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology, Emeritus and served as the Dean of Harvard Medical School from 1997-2007. Martin’s research focused on hypothalamic regulation of pituitary hormone secretions and application of neurochemical and molecular genetics to better understand the causes of neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. In 1980, he established the National Institutes of Health-sponsored Huntington’s Disease Center Without Walls. Early work in the Center led to a breakthrough in identifying a genetic marker near the Huntington’s Disease locus, culminating in the identification of the HTT gene (which encodes the huntingtin protein), alterations in which give rise to Huntington’s Disease.
Advisory Committee
Daniel Bernstein, CPA
Trustee, Estate of Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler
James DiCarlo, MD, PhD
Peter de Florez Professor of Neuroscience, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences;
Director, MIT Quest for Intelligence
Investigator, McGovern Institute for Brain Research;
Investigator, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
David Ginty, PhD
Chair, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School;
Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professorof Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School;
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Lisa Goodrich, PhD
Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Michael Greenberg, Johnathan Cohen, and H. Robert Horvitz for their years of dedication and invaluable contributions to the Lefler Foundation at Harvard Medical School.