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Show Journal of'A] euro- Ophthalmology 21( 2): 160- 161, 2001. © 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc., Philadelphia Obituary: Lea Averbuch- Heller, MD ( 1958- 2000) R. John Leigh, MD Lea Averbuch- Heller, MD, died in an accident in Israel on September 26, 2000. Lea was known to many of us in the international neuro- ophthalmologic community for her clear presentations, encyclopedic memory, and high energy. She was born in 1958 in St. Petersburg ( Leningrad), Russia. Her grandfather was a psychiatrist who collaborated with the anatomist Bechterew. Her grandmother was a descendent of Anton Rubinstein, founder of the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music. She was educated at the English high school in St. Petersburg and, during her childhood, had the opportunity to meet great musicians and poets of the Soviet Union. Her father was a psychiatrist, who got Lea interested in the neurosciences at an early age. She immigrated with her family to Israel in 1976. She studied Medicine at the Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, where she also trained in neurology. In 1992, she met Dr. Robert Daroff when he was a visiting professor at Hadassah Medical School, and he arranged for her to train in neuro- ophthalmology in Cleveland. She spent a year as an Ocular Motor Fellow, and then 2 years as a Clinical Neuro- Ophthalmology Fellow, under the supervision of Bernd F. Remler, MD. She became Assistant Professor of Neurology at Case Western Reserve University in 1996. While in Cleveland ( 1993- 98), she wrote more than 25 scientific papers and several chapters, including one on nystagmus for the fifth edition of Walsh and Hoyt's Clinical Neuro- Ophthalmology. She developed a career as an independent researcher and won a grant from the National Institutes of Health. In 1998, she returned to Israel and joined the faculty of Tel Aviv University- Sackler Faculty of Medicine, working at Rabin Medical Center under the chairmanship of Professor Eldad Melamed. She won a research grant from the German- Israeli Foundation for Scientific Manuscript received April 1, 2001; accepted April 1, 2001. From the Department of Neurology, University Hospitals and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. Address correspondence and reprint requests to R. John Leigh, MD, Department of Neurology, University Hospitals, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106- 5040; e- mail: rjl4@ po. cwru. edu. Research and Development and, at the time of her death, was preparing to begin experiments in the eye movement laboratory, which she had organized. Lea was the essence of the clinician- scientist. Her powers of observation and her organized analytic mind made her an excellent clinician. She had a keen interest in nystagmus and led a clinical trial that demonstrated the effectiveness of gabapentin in patients with acquired pendular nystagmus. She spent several months working with Dr. David Zee and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins University, studying the effects of prism adaptation. In collaboration with Professor Jean Biittner- Ennever and her colleagues in Munich, Germany, she defined the clinical and pathologic features of a variant of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with slow saccades. Along with her colleague, John Stahl, she demonstrated how pallidotomy for Parkinson disease caused saccadic intrusions. With characteristic clarity, she reinterpreted aspects of the neural control of eyelid movements, combining careful clinical observation with modern neurobiology. It is hard to believe that Lea has left us because she was always so alive with her razor- sharp mind, timely humor, and cultured intellect. She seemed to know all art, literature, and music; linguistics was a hobby ( she spoke four languages). She is survived by her husband, Moshe, and three young children. Her influence on those Lea Averbuch- Heller, MD, 1995 ( courtesy of Klaus Rottach, MD). 160 OBITUARY: LEA AVERBUCH- HELLER, MD 161 who knew her, and her contributions to neurophthalmology, will long survive her tragically premature death. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LEA AVERBUCH- HELLER, MD 1. Averbuch- Heller L, Zivotofsky AZ, Das VE, et al. Investigations of the pathogenesis of acquired pendular nystagmus. Brain 1995; 188: 369- 78. 2. Averbuch- Heller L, Stahl JS, Remler BF, et al. Bilateral ptosis and upgaze palsy with right hemispheric lesions. Ann Neurol 1996; 40: 465- 8. 3. Averbuch- Heller L, Tusa, RJ, Fuhry L, et al. A double- blind controlled study of gabapentin and baclofen as treatment for acquired nystagmus. Ann Neurol 1997; 41: 818- 25. 4. Averbuch- Heller L, Helmchen C, Horn AKE, et al. Slow vertical saccades in motor neuron disease: correlation of structure and function. Ann Neurol 1998; 44: 641- 8. 5. Averbuch- Heller L, Stahl JS, Hlavin ML, et al. Square wave jerks induced by pallidotomy in parkinsonian patients. Neurology 1999; 52: 185- 8. 6. Averbuch- Heller L, Lewis RF, Zee DS. Disconjugate adaptation of saccades: contributions of binocular and monocular mechanisms. Vision Res 1999; 66: 532- 5. J Neuro- Ophthalmol, Vol. 21, No. 2, 2001 |
