Mayeux is the Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Epidemiology, and co-director, with Michael Shelanski, of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. The Potamkin Prize honors researchers for their work in advancing the understanding of AD and related illnesses. This year it recognizes Mayeux’s extensive contributions to the genetics and epidemiology of AD. Mayeux’s research has shown that many cases of AD likely result from a complex mixture of altered genes and exposure to environmental factors. On the genetics side, Mayeux’s group has been leading studies of presenilin mutations as a cause of familial early-onset AD, as well as studies on ApoE and most recently, the SORL1 gene, as risk factors for late-onset AD. On the environmental side, Mayeux’s group has published extensively on the role of estrogen, dietary factors, and components of metabolic syndrome (i.e., insulin resistance, obesity) to AD. Mayeux has served on the Alzforum Scientific Advisory Board. Bells and whistles from the Alzforum community to Richard and his team!

Funded by the Potamkin Foundation, and sometimes called the “Nobel Prize of Neurology,” this award in past years has gone to Karen Duff, Karen Hsiao Ashe, Bradley Hyman, John Morris, Ronald Petersen, Leon Thal, and other noted scientists. Since 1988, when Robert Terry won the inaugural Potamkin prize, the Potamkin family has contributed more than $2 million to the AAN to fund this award.—Gabrielle Strobel, adapted from press releases.