Nicolas G. Bazan, M.D., Ph.D., has been called “a true renaissance man”: research scientist, teacher, mentor, community leader, author, screenplay co-writer/executive movie producer, patron of the arts, and entrepreneur. Born in Los Sarmientos, Tucuman, Argentina, Dr. Nicolas Bazan's defining moment was witnessing an aunt suffer a seizure while walking him to a piano lesson when he was a young boy, putting him on the path to becoming a medical doctor and one of the world's premier neuroscientists.

 He is the founding Director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at the School of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health New Orleans. He is also the inaugural founder of the Ernest C. and Yvette C. Villere Chair for Research in Retinal Degeneration (1984-present) and has been appointed to the highest academic rank in the LSU System, a Boyd Professor (1994-present). He is also a Foreign Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. 

In his first laboratory at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto, Canada, Dr. Bazan discovered that brain ischemia (like in stroke), seizures (like in epilepsy) or electroconvulsive shock (a therapy for depression) trigger the rapid release of unesterified essential fatty acids (docosahexaenoic and arachidonic acids) from membranes through phospholipase A2. Soon after, his lab extended these seminal observations to the retina, vision and retinal degenerative diseases. These findings became a citation classic ("Neural Stimulation or Onset of Cerebral Ischemia Activates Phospholipase A2", Bazan NG, Current Contents/Life Sciences, 30:10, 1991). Based upon this early work, he then discovered that release of the mediator, platelet-activating factor (PAF), is a major signaling event of inflammatory responses in the eye and brain, and he identified PAF binding sites in synaptic and intracellular membranes.

 Among Dr. Bazan's awards and recognitions are the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (1989); elected to the Royal Academy of Medicine, Spain (1996); elected fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Dublin (1999);  President, American Society for Neurochemistry (1999-2001);  Doctor Honoris Causa, Universidad de Tucuman, Argentina (1999);  Endre A. Balazs Prize, International Society of Eye Research (2000); the Proctor Medal, the highest honor awarded by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) (2007); the Alkmeon International Prize (2011); the Chevreul Medal, Paris, France (2011); the Excellence Award, Annual European Association for Vision and Eye Research, Nice, France (2013); and the Mossakowski Medal, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland (2013), 2018 Award of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (Bonn, Germany).

 For his contributions to creating a culture that inspires novel ideas and opens a path for translating concepts into reality—from the lab to the clinic to the community—he received many recognitions, which include: Role Model, Young Leadership Council of New Orleans; The Alzheimer's Association Greater New Orleans Award; Family Services of Greater New Orleans (Ten Outstanding Persons) Award; and induction into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame of New Orleans.

 He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Neurobiology (Springer), a Founding Senate Member of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)—a nationwide research program on Alzheimer's disease in Germany—Member of the Biology of the Visual System Study Section, NIH, and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Governors for the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Foundation.

Currently, he is beginning to apply his discoveries (patents exclusively licensed from the University in two startup companies that he co-founded). They are NeuResto Therapeutics, LLC (novel discoveries for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, retinal degenerations, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and other brain and retina diseases; www.neuresto.com) and South Rampart Pharma, LLC (novel non-addictive, non-toxic painkiller; southrampartpharma.com)