Dr. Selkoe obtained his bachelor’s degree at Columbia University in 1965 and his Doctor of Medicine at the University of Virginia in 1969. He then studied basic neuroscience at the National Institutes of Health and at Harvard Medical School, and trained as a neurologist in the Harvard Longwood Residency in Neurology. Dr. Selkoe established an independent laboratory researching Alzheimer’s disease and related basic biological questions in 1978. He advanced through the faculty ranks at Harvard Medical School to become Professor of Neurology in 1990. In 2000, he was named the Vincent and Stella Coates Professor of Neurologic Diseases.

Dr. Selkoe enjoys an international reputation as perhaps the leading researcher on the molecular basis of Alzheimer’s disease. His many scientific articles in Nature, Science, Cell and Neuron have led this field towards novel therapeutics. Dr. Selkoe was the principal founding scientist of Athena Neurosciences, now part of Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He has received many honors, including the Mathilde Solowey Award in the Neurosciences (NIH), the Potamkin Prize (American Academy of Neurology), the A.H. Heineken Prize for Medicine (The Netherlands) and the Pioneer Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award (Alzheimer’s Association). He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

Dr. Selkoe was funded in 2011 for his work on “AB Oligomers and the Pathogenic Spread of Tau Aggregation”.