Page 2 - Hall and Giacobassi - 4.21.21

Long-time MSM Donors Dr. Zach W. Hall and Julie Ann Giacobassi
‘We both believe in helping others, and paying it forward’

ou might think a scientist have been important topics in the Department of Neurobiology at
and an English horn-play- Zach’s life since his childhood in Harvard Medical School. In 1976
Yer would have little in segregated Atlanta. As a teen he he was recruited to the Univer-
common, what with one being hosted a thoughtful conversation sity of California San Francisco’s
more of a pragmatist and the other at his church about equity with Department of Physiology, where
a creative musician. But when Dr. students from Morehouse College headed the Division of Neurobiolo-
Zach W. Hall and Julie Ann Gi- and later, after graduating from Yale gy and created an interdepartmen-
acobassi first met, backstage after a University in 1958 with a bachelor’s tal neuroscience program.
San Francisco Symphony concert, degree in English, participated in In 1994 he became the head of
they found they shared many sim- civil rights demonstrations. the Biomedical Sciences Gradu-
ilar interests — including a mis- Zach went on to earn his PhD ate Program and was appointed
sion to help improve lives through in biochemistry from Harvard in Director of the National Institute
education and equity. 1966 and then worked as a fellow of Neurological Disorders and
“Both science and music involve in biochemistry at Stanford Uni- Stroke at the National Institutes for
searching and testing — always versity before joining the faculty of Health. At the time, the institute
trying to make the music or the
experiment better,” Julie says. “And
we both believe in helping others,
and paying it forward.”
That is exactly what they’ve done
as long-time supporters of basic
science, specifically neuroscience,
at Morehouse School of Medi-
cine. Over time they have helped
raise more than $775,000 for the
Zach Hall Neuroscience Endowed
Scholarship, the Drs. Peter and
Marlene MacLeish Lectureship,
and the Furshpan Potter Endowed
and Direct Scholarship Funds.
“Morehouse School of Medicine’s
primary aim is health equity,” Zach
says. “Training researchers in basic
science and neuroscience may
seem to have no direct connection
to health equity, but it is an im-
portant investment in our med-
ical future. We must engage and
encourage talent from all segments
of our population.”
Diversity, equity, and inclusion