born May 28, 1942, Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.
U.S. neurologist.
He earned his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently taught at UC–San Francisco (1974–84) and UC–Berkeley (from 1984). As a medical resident, he was intrigued by spongiform encephalopathies when a patient died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ; he later studied the related sheep disorder scrapie and in 1982 reported isolation of its causative agent, which he called a prion. Initially criticized, his prion theory was eventually generally accepted, and his research received world attention when mad cow disease emerged in Britain. The theory may also shed light on disorders such as Alzheimer disease and parkinsonism , which share traits with prion-based diseases. His work won him a 1997 Nobel Prize.