A noted Alzheimer’s researcher from Cleveland, whose contrarian opinions on the disease were continuing to win new followers, died in a weekend hit-and-run accident.
Case Western Reserve University researcher Mark Smith died Sunday morning. He was walking back from a bar near his home where friends had been having an early Christmas celebration, according to The Plain Dealer. He was walking along the road in an area where there were no sidewalks, police told the newspaper.
The 45-year-old native of England was dubbed a renegade researcher for the way he challenged drug companies’ assumptions and other conventional wisdom on Alzheimer’s. Namely, he disagreed with the idea that protein fragments called amyloid caused Alzheimer’s.
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His opinions were gaining increasing acceptance, though, particularly after the failure of Eli Lilly’s Alzheimer drug in August.
“Everything comes down to how one interprets data,” Smith recently told Forbes. “There is a lot of scientific noise out there and most people like to play ‘follow the leader.’ The structure of granting agencies actually discourages anything else.
“I have received a lot of stick for my scientific talks where for over a decade I have challenged the amyloid hypothesis,” he added. “I typically tell the audience that my views are controversial and that I would really appreciate someone pointing out a flaw in my logic or presenting evidence that shows that I am wrong. Neither has ever happened.”
Smith’s work made him one of the three most cited researchers in the field. He also served the industry and was on the scientific advisory board for Alzheimer’s drug company Avanex.
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Jessica Studeny, spokeswoman for the CWRU School of Medicine, said the school is in the early stages of planning a memorial and would likely issue a release on Tuesday. Smith was a professor in the Department of Pathology.
The accident investigation is ongoing, police told The Plain Dealer. The driver of the car that hit Smith was found dead at his own residence.
