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VU University Amsterdam honorary doctorates for Michael Tonry and Dennis Selkoe
Awards to criminologist and neurologist on 20 October
VU University Amsterdam will be awarding two honorary doctorates during its 130th Foundation Day on 20 October this year. Criminologist Michael Tonry (Russell M. and Elizabeth M. Bennett Chair in Excellence at the University of Minnesota Law School) will receive an honorary doctorate for his outstanding services in the field of normative-ethical and empirical criminological research into crime and punishment. Dennis J. Selkoe (Professor of Neurological Diseases at Harvard Medical School) will receive an honorary doctorate for his outstanding services in the area of molecular approaches and techniques in research into Alzheimer’s disease and related biological fields.
Following a career as a lawyer, Michael Tonry has been associated with various American and European universities as a researcher. He was the director of the prominent Institute of Criminology in Cambridge (Great Britain) from 1999 to 2004, and is a leading American academic in the field of crime and punishment. Tonry has bridged American and European criminology by, among other achievements, initiating international comparative studies of crime statistics. He is also a senior research fellow at the Netherlands Institute for the Study Of Crime and Law Enforcement in Amsterdam. Tonry is receiving his honorary doctorate at the recommendation of the Faculty of Law. His honorary doctorate will be presented by Professor Henk Elffers.
Dennis J. Selkoe is one of the absolute world leaders in the field of research into neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s disease. In 1982 he became the first scientist to develop a method of isolating the abnormal areas of the brain that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. His research has formed the basis for many new therapeutic insights. Throughout his career Selkoe has led the way in research into Alzheimer’s, with the result that many scientists have been able to carry out experiments that have brought about progress in the field. His work fits in at the heart of the interfaculty institute Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (NCA) of VU University Amsterdam. The Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences has recommended Selkoe’s honorary doctorate, which will be presented by Professor Philip Scheltens, director of the Alzheimer’s centre of the VU University Medical Center.
