SELF EXAM:

Occupation: Psychiatrist & Brain Imaging Researcher

Alternative career choice: Architect or orthopedic surgeon. (I would have been awful as either.)

What do rock stars and scienctists have in common: A passion for our work, the chance to make a difference in people's lives, and the determination, team work, and good luck needed to be successful.

I tend to approach life: With a sense of wonder, appreciation, and responsibility, a wish for more time, and the occasional need to be reminded that "life is not a dress rehearsal."

Biggest misconceptions about me or my work: That I could have accomplished anything at all on my own.

Worst part-time job ever: One summer after high school, my brother and I rented an ice cream truck. When a blackout caused the truck's plug-in freezer to stop working, we saw our investment melt away.

Longest med school study session: I'll let you know when it's over.

Best moment in medicine/research: Every time we get to ask an interesting and important question or bring together the research strategy, methods and people needed to address it. Every time we get the chance to make a new discovery or make a difference in people's lives. What could be better than that?

ABOUT MY RESEARCH:

Disease Area: Alzheimer's disease

Research Area: Brain imaging, genomics, and the prevention of Alzheimer's disease

Science Impact/Accomplishments or Goal: To end Alzheimer's disease without losing another generation, set a new standard of care for patients and families, and provide a model of collaboration in biomedical research. I believe that now is the time to launch the era of Alzheimer's prevention research, establish both the means and accelerated regulatory approval pathway needed to evaluate the range of promising "presymptomatic Alzheimer's disease treatments" in the most rapid and rigorous way, and find one that works as quickly as possible. In my opinion, the stakes could not be greater, nor the opportunity now at hand. We need the sense of urgency, the right public policies and funding mechanisms, and the right scientific paradigm to get the job done—long before today's young adults become senior citizens.

Research Description: My colleagues and I originally focused on the use of brain imaging techniques to investigate how different brain regions and cognitive processes work to orchestrate normal human behaviors, like emotion and memory, and how they conspire to produce certain behavioral disorders. We also developed image analysis strategies, such as the concept of "image averaging," to assist in this endeavor. Since the early 1990's, we have used resources from complementary scientific disciplines to detect and track brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease, starting decades before the onset of symptoms. This helps characterize risk factors and molecular mechanisms, set the stage to evaluate promising prevention therapies using brain imaging and other biomarker measurements, and develop research strategies with improved power to address important scientific questions. Our ultimate goal is to find demonstrably effective treatments to reduce or completely prevent the risk of Alzheimer's disease as soon as possible.