Alzheimer's disease is a devasting illness with no effective treatment. But research is progressing rapidly and current clinical trials offer hope for a future disease-modifying therapy. In this week’s episode, I interview Dr. David Holtzman on the current state of Alzheimer’s research. We discuss his professional development as a physician scientist, his founding of the company C2N diagnostics, and his opinions on the current state and future of Alzheimer’s research. Dr. Holzman got his MD from Northwestern University and then completed a neurology residency and post-doctoral research at UCSF. He is the chairman of the neurology department at Washington University and is the scientific director of the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders. He is the Associate Director of the Knight ADRC and the president of the American Neurological Association.

Time stamps:

• 02:18: Introduction and professional background
• 14:53: Starting an independent research lab
• 18:08: Becoming chairman of neurology at Washington University
• 24:24: Founding C2N diagnostics
• 29:30: Alzheimer’s background and patient case
• 32:15: Patient education on Alzheimer’s disease (AD)
• 36:30: Mechanisms of disease activity in AD
• 47:12: Future disease modifying treatments for AD
• 55:20: Future biomarkers for AD
• 57:40: Emerging research areas for AD

Disclosures:

Dr. Holtzman is the scientific co-founding member of C2N diagnostics. He has performed consulting work for Eli Lilly and Denali therapeutics. Brain Boy Neurology reports no relevant financial disclosures.