LEONARD ABRAMSON is a Trustee Emeritus of The Johns Hopkins University. His career began as a retail pharmacist. While working for a hospital-management company he created Family Medical Care, a prepaid medical plan, which he subsequently purchased. In the late 1970s, he changed the name to U.S. Healthcare, serving as its principal executive officer until 1996 when it was purchased by Aetna. Mr. Abramson now consults through his firm, The Abramson Group. Both he and his wife, MADLYN, are members of the boards of numerous nonprofit and civic organizations. (The Abramsons are pictured here, with Ted Dawson on the far right.)
Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Professorship in Neurodegenerative Diseases
School of Medicine
Established in 2004 with a gift from Leonard and Madlyn Abramson
Held by Ted M. Dawson
TED M. DAWSON, the inaugural Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Professor of Neurodegenerative Diseases, came to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1990 on a fellowship. He now directs the Institute of Cell Engineering and the Morris K. Udall Parkinson’s Disease Research Center for Excellence within the Department of Neurology. As well as being a professor of neurology and neuroscience at the School of Medicine, Dr. Dawson also directs the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Center. His discoveries have led to innovative approaches and enhanced the development of new agents to treat neurologic disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Dr. Dawson received his medical degree and doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Utah and completed his neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania.