Roger Nitsch, MD. PHD
Chairman of the NSC-SAB
Roger Nitsch serves as CEO and President of Neurimmune, which he founded in 2006 with two business partners. A neuroscientist with a background in medicine, Roger is recognized as an opinion leader in neurodegenerative diseases with over 30 years of experience in Alzheimer’s disease research and drug development. A Potamkin Prize winner and Member of the German Academy of Sciences, Roger served as a founding director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IREM), University of Zurich. He serves on the Boards of Lonza, Integra Biosciences and NovaGo Therapeutics.
Roger Nitsch holds an MD degree from the University of Heidelberg and earned his post-doctoral qualification at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School.
EZIO GIACOBINI, MD, PhD.Professor Emeritus
M. D. 1953 (Turin, Italy); certified M. D. 1960 (Italy); certified M. D. 2003 (Switzerland); PhD. 1959 (Cellular Neuropharmacology (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden); Honorary M.D. 2000 (University of Kuopio, Finland); Staff physician and clinical investigator in Psychiatry(1953-1971).Since July 1995 is a professor associated with the Dept. of Internal Medicine, Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, University of Geneva Medical School in Geneva, Switzerland and an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology, Psychiatry and Neurology at the Southern Illinois School of Medicine, Springfield, IL, USA. From Janury 1982 until June 1995 he was a Professor and Chairman of the Dept. of Pharmacology and Scientific Director of the NIA (NIH) Alzheimer Center at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield IL, USA. Before January 1982, he was Professor of Biobehavioral Science at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT and head of the laboratory of neuro-psychopharmacology.His major research interest is in the pre-clinical and clinical development of drug therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. Together with R. Becker he has developed, preclinically and clinically, two new cholinesterase inhibitors(metrifonate and pentastigmine ) and participated in the clinical development of E20-20 ( donepezil) , rivastigmine and phenserine. He also did research is in the area of a-beta oligomers , their origin, localization and relation to Alzheimer pathology. New drug development for AD continues to be his main task of research.
He received the LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE RESEARCH from the Alzheimer Association (USA) at the 8th Int. Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease in Stockholm, July 2002.
Jeffrey Cummings, MD, ScD(HC)
Jeffrey Cummings, MD, ScD(HC), is Professor in the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine and Director of the Chambers-Gundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience, University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). Dr. Cummings is globally recognized for his contributions to Alzheimer’s research, drug development, and clinical trials. He has been honored with numerous awards including the Bengt Winblad Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alzheimer’s Association and the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s Melvin R. Goodes Prize for Excellence in Drug Development. He is a Fellow to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. He was the founding director of the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at UCLA and founding director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Dr. Cummings has published 43 books and over 1000 peer-reviewed papers on Alzheimer’s disease, neuropsychiatry, and clinical trials.
Taylor Schmitz, PhD; Assistant Professor, Western University
Dr. Taylor Schmitz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. His research program investigates the cholinergic system’s role in brain function and its vulnerability in Alzheimer’s disease. His lab, the Integrative Neuroscience of Cognition and Aging Laboratory (INCAlab), develops advanced multimodal neuroimaging techniques to study cholinergic degeneration in both humans and mouse models. Through interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships with industry, his team works to translate novel biomarkers and therapeutic strategies into clinical applications.
Bengt Winblad, MD; PhD
Professor Bengt Winblad was until 2018 heading the Division of Neurogeriatrics at Karolinska Institutet. Over the years he has been involved in epidemic, clinic and basic research but since many years he is now focusing his research on drug development.
Bengt Winblad is Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Karolinska Institutet in Solna and Chief Physician at Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge. 2001-2019, he chaired the European Alzheimer Disease Consortium (EADC), currently consisting of 71 clinical research centers. 2009-2021. He was a member of the Senate for the German national network on neurodegenerative disorders, DZNE. He was PI of the first EU Joint Program project, BIOMARKAPD aiming at standardizing handling of biomarkers in Alzheimer and Parkinson disease. He has founded several international conferences, e.g. the ”International Conference of Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD, renamed AAIC) and the International PharmacoEconomic Conferences on AD (IPECAD). He was a member of the Nobel Assembly, Karolinska Institutet 1988 – 2010. In 2009, he was recognized the world’s most prolific researcher in AD by the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and in 2016, he was recognized as one (out of five from Karolinska Institutet) of the most cited scientists worldwide. He has been given numerous awards for his research, the latest was the 2019 European Grand Prix for Research awarded by the Foundation for Research on Alzheimer, France and The Joan Boada & Mercè Rovira Award in 2024. He has been the Main Supervisor for 50 PhD students and co-supervisor for >150 PhD students in Umeå and Stockholm. In addition he has served as supervisor for >50 postdoctors in Umeå and Stockholm. He has an extensive publication list with more than 1500 peer reviewed publications, more than 90000 citations and an H-index of 146 (source Web of science).
Agneta Nordberg , MD; PhD
Agneta Nordberg isProfessor of Clinical Neuroscience , Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
She obtained her M.D, Ph.D. at Uppsala University, Sweden and is professor in Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet and Senior Consultant in Geriatric Medicine, Theme Aging, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm. The Nordberg Translational Molecular imaging lab at KI Center for Alzheimer Research has a major focus on in vitro / in vivo molecular brain imaging, to characterize the complex pathophysiology of AD and other proteinopathies, to develop early diagnostic markers and new targets for early intervention. She has pioneered in field of cholinergic neurotransmission, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, in development of amyloid PET imaging, introducing multi-tracer PET concept, and visualising reactive astrogliosis and tau pathology in AD and other dementia diseases and recently also including plasma biomarker studies in memory clinic cohorts. She has received several prizes and rewards as 2022 Henry Wisniewski Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer´s Disease Research (AAIC), 2021 Bengt Winblad Alzheimer Prize, Swedish Society of Medicine, 2020 Foundation for Research on Alzheimer /European Grand Prix 2020, France, 2016 Grand Silver Medal Karolinska Institutet, 2014 Queen Silvia prize, 2013 Wailet and Eric Forsgren prize for Alzheimer Research.
