U.S. News Recognizes Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Researcher, David Holtzman

Posted July 6, 2009

Last week, US News & World Report recognized one of our Research Consortium’s leading scientists – Dr. David Holtzman. In the article, Holtzman was hailed as one of the top researchers in the field:

“He’s clearly one of the leaders in Alzheimer’s disease research,” says Stephen Snyder, deputy director of the division of neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging. “He really sort of set a pace, a research agenda.”

(Image from Jeffrey MacMillan for USN&WR)

Image from Jeffrey MacMillan for USN&WR

We share David’s tremendous passion and drive to end Alzheimer’s. And his work exemplifies several tenets of our venture capital approach to support research and find a cure.

First, he is a perfect example of our mantra: “find the people doing the best work and support them so they can do it even better, faster.” With the other members of our Research Consortium, he has already made seminal contributions to the field and is blazing new trails in understanding the causes of the disease and how to link that understanding to effective therapies.

Second, David is an independent academic researcher at one of the leading Alzheimer’s research institutions in the world. The great part about our venture capital approach is that every dollar we have spent to support his program funds the direct costs of his breakthrough research; not his university’s overhead.

Third, David works with other members of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Research Consortium and other leading researchers to share theories, approaches and results. The research for which he is lauded in the U.S. News article is a truly collaborative effort — both in the approach to research as well as in the funding. This collaborative approach allows our research team to build off one another’s successes and help speed results.. And most importantly, his research is linking what we learn from the genetic complexity of the disease to take us beyond treatment. As the U.S News article says about David, he “would prefer not to focus on treating the disease. His greatest hope is for researchers to recognize that the disease ‘starts before the symptoms and signs.’ That way, he says, ‘we can work on prevention.'”

We salute David Holtzman and his colleagues for this breakthrough research, and we look forward to continuing to support him in our shared fight for a cure.

To help us fund David’s research, please donate to Cure Alzheimer’s Fund today!