Speaker: Dr. Rudolph (Rudy) Tanzi

As a long-time geneticist, Dr. Rudy Tanzi has been at the forefront of some exciting discoveries in his field including being on the team that was the first to find a disease gene (Huntington’s Disease) using human genetic markers, helping to launch the field of neurogenetics. He is currently the Vice-Chair of Neurology and Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and serves as the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Tanzi co-discovered all three early-onset familial Alzheimer’s disease genes and identified several others as leader of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Alzheimer’s Genome Project. Most recently, he and his team used Alzheimer’s genes and human stem cells to create what the New York Times coined, “Alzheimer’s-in-a-Dish” that is considered to be the first true model of Alzheimer’s disease making drug screening for Alzheimer’s disease 10 times cheaper and 10 times faster. Dr. Tanzi is also very active in the areas of integrative medicine and applications to brain health and co-directs with Dr. Deepak Chopra the Self-Directed Biological Transformation Initiative (SBTI) aimed at exploring and quantifying the effects of lifestyle interventions on brain health.

Dr. Tanzi serves as Chair of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Research Leadership Group. He has published more than 550 research papers and has received the highest awards in his field, including the Metropolitan Life Foundation Award, Potamkin Prize, Ronald Reagan Award, Silver Innovator Award and the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award, the top national award for invention and innovation. He serves on dozens of editorial boards and scientific advisory boards and was named to TIME magazine’s list of The 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2015. He co-authored the books Decoding Darkness, and three international bestsellers, Super Brain, Super Genes and The Healing Self. He was named by GQ magazine as a Rock Star of Science, and in his spare time, has played keyboards with the band Aerosmith.