Dr. Richard Heikkila

The deaths of Richard E. Heikkila, and his wife Dawn on January 29, 1991, under extremely tragic circumstances, left his friends and scientific colleagues with a profound sense of loss. Dick Heikkila was not only an internationally renowned scientist but also a talented teacher, a gregarious colleague, and a caring friend to all who knew him well. Born, raised, and educated in Ohio, he attended Ohio State University, earning his B.A. in 1965 and his Ph.D. in 1969 in Physiological Chemistry. His doctoral work with Dr. D. G. Cornwell focused on the biophysics of lipid monolayers, foreshadowing his future research on oxidative tissue damage. In 1970, Dick joined Dr. Gerald Cohen’s laboratory at Columbia University as a Research Associate, where I first met him. Our labs were across the hall from each other, and I am among the few who knew him before he grew his beard. In 1973, our Parkinson research group moved to Mt. Sinai Medical School when our director, Dr. Mel Yahr, became Chairman of Neurology. Between 1970 and 1979, Dick and Gerry Cohen produced pioneering studies on catecholamines, elucidating the mechanisms of 6-hydroxydopamine toxicity and establishing the roles of peroxide, superoxide anion, and hydroxyl radicals. They also demonstrated similar mechanisms in alloxan-induced diabetes. Dick’s work on catecholamine uptake and release helped distinguish true uptake blockers from releasing agents like amphetamine. By the late 1970s, as a Research Associate Professor, he was recognized as a leading young investigator. In 1979, Dick moved to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to join Dr. Roger Duvoisin. At the time of his death, he was a Professor of Neurology and Pharmacology. I joined him in New Jersey in 1980, and together we established the Levine Neurosciences Laboratories, which grew from five to twenty-two members due largely to Dick’s scientific insight and success in securing funding. In the early 1980s, his laboratory expanded work on dopamine systems, including receptor studies. In 1984, Dick began the research that earned him lasting acclaim—the study of MPTP, a dopaminergic neurotoxin inducing parkinsonism. His contributions earned him a Javits Neuroscience Award in 1987. He established the mouse model of MPTP toxicity and showed that monoamine oxidase inhibitors prevent it by blocking the conversion of MPTP to MPP+. With his student and later postdoctoral fellow Steve Youngster, he synthesized MPTP and MPP+ analogs, establishing important structure–activity relationships. My own laboratory joined this effort when we discovered that MPP+ selectively inhibits mitochondrial complex I, causing metabolic failure and cell death. Dick’s openness and collaborative spirit stimulated extensive interactions with researchers worldwide, and much of his students’ and fellows’ work developed from these studies. His later projects began reconnecting his interests to oxidative damage. Dick’s research on MPTP was groundbreaking, and his findings influenced clinical studies such as the DATATOP trial. His generosity, enthusiasm for science, constant communication with collaborators, and dedication to advancing understanding made him beloved in the scientific community. His scientific achievements were immense, but those who knew him remember him as a vibrant, witty, warm individual who loved life, challenged authority, cared deeply for his family, and championed the less advantaged. For these human qualities, as much as for his scientific brilliance, those who called him a friend will always cherish his memory. —William J. Nicklas, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey.