Carmela R. Abraham, Ph.D., devoted her entire career to the study of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). She obtained her Ph.D. in neuroscience at Harvard University.She then moved to Boston University School of Medicine where she is a professor of biochemistry and pharmacology and experimental therapeutics. Her laboratory studies the basic molecular mechanisms leading to normal brain aging, since aging is the highest risk factor for late-onset AD, and the pathological processes that culminate in AD. More recently she embarked on translational research to identify treatments to slow down or even arrest AD and age-related neurodegeneration.

Abraham was the first Rappaport Scholar at the Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the recipient of the Zenith and Temple awards from the Alzheimer’s Association. Abraham has directed and taught a course titled “Molecular Basis of Neurologic Diseases” for more than 20 years, and has mentored numerous undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The National Institutes of Health, Alzheimer’s Association, Boston University Ignition Award, the Massachusetts Neuroscience Consortium Award and Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation have supported her work.