The fund was established by the Newcomb family in honor of beloved son and brother, Robert Whitney Newcomb, Ph.D. The fund endows  an annual lecture in neuroscience and an internship for a selected high school junior, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

Before his death in 2000, at age 44, Dr. Newcomb was passionately devoted to brain research. He first came to NIH as a junior in high school, and thanks to his mentor, Dr. Claude Klee, he became a protein chemist at the age of 17.  Dr. Newcomb received his doctorate from the University of Hawaii, and gave up the second year of his Presidential Young Investigator Award to accept his first NIH grant.  Dr. Newcomb’s association with NIH continued as he later served on NIH study panels. The Newcomb Family established this memorial fund because NIH is the most appropriate place to further Dr. Newcomb’s work on brain research and the chemical basis of stroke and aging.

(Above photo) 2011 Robert Whitney Newcomb Memorial Internships Awarded recipients Jade Williams and Marie Hickman.