Ganesh M. Babulal, PhD, OTD, MSCI, MOT, FAOTA

Professor, Departments of Neurology and Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic - Rochester

Dr. Ganesh M. Babulal is a professor in the departments of Neurology and Quantitative Health Sciences at the Mayo Clinic and director of The DRIVES Project and ARCHES laboratories. Dr. Babulal’s research program (1) characterizes functional changes in dementia using conventional biomarkers (structural and functional imaging, cerebrospinal fluid, plasma) and digital sensor-based markers, (2) develops precision AI models of decline using complex instrumental activities of daily living, (3) quantifies structural and social determinants of health across the life course to predicts disease risk in late life, and (4) assesses the impact of multidimensional deprivation in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) on brain health. Dr. Babulal’s work has been disseminated across eight book chapters and over 150 peer-reviewed research articles. His work has been supported by federal and non-governmental organizations and centers on population neuroscience and a syndemic framework to bridge gaps in health disparities in the United States and LMICs.

Bart De Strooper, MD, PhD

Professor (Molecular Medicine), KU Leuven and VIB; Group Leader, UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI), University College London and Francis Crick Institute

Dr. Bart De Strooper is a world-renowned neuroscientist and Professor of Molecular Medicine at KU Leuven and VIB in Belgium, as well as Professor of Dementia Research at University College London (UCL), UK. He served as the founding Institute Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) and currently leads prominent research laboratories across the UK DRI at UCL, the Francis Crick Institute, and the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research.

Dr. De Strooper’s research focuses on uncovering the fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms driving Alzheimer’s disease. He is globally recognized for his pioneering discoveries regarding the role of presenilin/gamma-secretase in amyloid pathology and for introducing the influential "cellular phase" theory of Alzheimer's disease, which describes how complex, coordinated cellular responses dictate early disease progression.

In recognition of his groundbreaking contributions, Dr. De Strooper was co-awarded the prestigious Brain Prize in 2018. His many honors also include the Potamkin Award, the Metlife Foundation Award, and election to the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the US National Academy of Medicine.

Frank Jessen, MD

Director of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cologne; Group Leader for Clinical Alzheimer Research and Member of the Clinical Executive Board, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)

Dr. Frank Jessen received his MD degree from the University of Saarland in Germany in 1995 and was board certified as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in 2002. From 2002-2014 he served as consultant psychiatrist and head of clinical Alzheimer’s disease research at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn. In 2015, he was appointed as Professor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and director of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cologne. Since 2010, he is an associate researcher and group leader for Clinical Alzheimer Research at the German Center of Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE). Since 2024 he is a member of the clinical executive board of the DZNE. 

His research focusses on prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease with expertise in neuropsychology, neuroimaging, epidemiology and genetics. In this context, he coordinated national and international diagnostic multicenter studies and clinical trials.

He is a member of the board of the Germany Psychiatric Association (DGPPN), where he coordinates the national guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of dementia. He is the current chair of the European Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium (EADC) and the founder of the German Memory Clinic Network (DNG). He serves on several scientific advisory boards, including the German Alzheimer Association and Alzheimer Europe. He is a founding board member of the Internation Registry for Alzheimer’s disease and other Dementias (InRAD) and since 2025 a member of the World Dementia Council (WDC).

Constantine (Kostas) Lyketsos, MD, MHS

Elizabeth Plank Althouse Professor and Chair, Johns Hopkins University; Clinical Core Leader, Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC); Founder, Richman Family Precision Medicine Center of Excellence on Alzheimer’s Disease

Dr. Constantine Lyketsos is the Elizabeth Plank Althouse Professor at Johns Hopkins, where he Chairs the Johns Hopkins Bayview Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. A graduate of Athens College, Northwestern University, and Washington University Medical School, he completed his residency, chief residency, and fellowship at Johns Hopkins before joining the faculty in 1993.

Dr. Lyketsos is a world-renowned expert in treatment development for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, maintaining an active role as a clinician, teacher, and researcher. For over 20 years, he has served as the Clinical Core Leader for the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC). In 2019, he founded the Richman Family Precision Medicine Center of Excellence on Alzheimer’s Disease.

An exceptionally well-cited researcher, Dr. Lyketsos has authored over 500 articles and five books, accumulating more than 88,000 citations with an h-index of 157. A Stanford University publication ranked him 13th worldwide among all-time scientists in the field of Geriatrics. He has received numerous awards and has been recognized annually as one of America’s Top Doctors by Castle-Connolly since 2001.

Vijay K. Ramanan, MD, PhD

Associate Professor (Neurology), Director, AD Treatment Clinic, Mayo Clinic; Consultant, Division of Cognitive/Behavioral Neurology, Dept of Neurology, Mayo Clinic

Dr. Vijay K. Ramanan is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Treatment Clinic at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he also serves as Vice Chair of Clinical Practice for the Department of Neurology.

His clinical practice and research focus on precision medicine approaches for neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and Lewy body disease. He specializes in the clinical application of novel therapeutics, blood biomarkers, and emerging anti-amyloid treatments. Dr. Ramanan's research program investigates genetic factors driving resistance and resilience to neurodegenerative pathology by integrating polygenic risk scores, neuroimaging, and fluid biomarkers.

Dr. Ramanan holds key national leadership positions, including serving on the executive committee of the Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC) and the American Academy of Neurology’s Guidelines and Science committees. He earned his MD and PhD from the Indiana University School of Medicine before completing his neurology residency and behavioral neurology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic.

Perminder Sachdev, MD PhD FRANZCP

Scientia Professor of Neuropsychiatry, UNSW Sydney; Co-Director, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA); Clinical Director, Neuropsychiatric Institute, Prince of Wales Hospital

Dr. Perminder Sachdev is a Scientia Professor of Neuropsychiatry at UNSW Sydney, Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), and Clinical Director of the Neuropsychiatric Institute at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, Australia. He is recognized globally as a pioneer in neuropsychiatry and cognitive aging.

Dr. Sachdev’s vast research program spans drug-induced movement disorders, brain imaging, and the risk and protective factors associated with cognitive decline and dementia, with a particular focus on vascular dementia and small vessel disease. He is the principal investigator of major longitudinal studies, including the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study, the Older Australian Twins Study, and the Sydney Centenarian Study. He also provides leadership to global dementia networks, directing three prominent international consortia: COSMIC, STROKOG, and ICC-Dementia.

A widely published author with over 900 peer-reviewed manuscripts and several books, Dr. Sachdev has significantly influenced psychiatric diagnostics, including contributing to the dementia criteria for the DSM-5. He serves as the Deputy Chair of the Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) and was formerly the Chief Medical Adviser to Alzheimer's Australia. In recognition of his foundational contributions to medicine and health, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), named NSW Scientist of the Year for Biomedical Sciences, and awarded the international Ryman Prize. He holds an MBBS and MD from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and earned his PhD from UNSW Sydney.

Suzanne Schindler, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine; Leader of the Fluid Biomarker Core, Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center

Dr. Suzanne E. Schindler is a neurologist and neuroscientist dedicated to advancing the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. She cares for patients with memory concerns at the Washington University Memory Diagnostic Center, where she also coordinates the collection and analysis of real-world data on Alzheimer’s biomarkers and amyloid-targeted therapies.  Dr. Schindler leads the Fluid Biomarker Core of the Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and has facilitated numerous collaborative studies, including those that developed and validated some of the first clinically available blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease pathology. She has evaluated the generalizability of AD biomarkers across diverse groups, led head-to-head comparisons of Alzheimer’s blood tests, studied the timing of key events in the disease, and co-led the creation of consensus recommendations for the performance of clinical Alzheimer’s blood tests. An active educator, she trains clinicians on integrating Alzheimer’s biomarkers into their evaluation of patients with cognitive impairment.

Sudha Seshadri, MD, DM

Founding Director, Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's & Neurodegenerative Diseases, UT Health San Antonio; Senior Investigator, Framingham Heart Study

Dr. Sudha Seshadri is the Founding Director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio and a Senior Investigator for the seminal Framingham Heart Study, where she has led the clinical neurology and neurogenetics cores since 2005. She is also the Robert R. Barker Distinguished University Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Cellular and Integrative Physiology at the Long School of Medicine.

Under her leadership, the Biggs Institute, in partnership with UT Rio Grande Valley, earned designation as Texas' only National Institute on Aging (NIA)–designated Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC). Dr. Seshadri's clinical practice and research are dedicated to precision medicine approaches for neurodegenerative conditions, integrating genetic, epidemiological, multi-omic, and imaging data to uncover the underlying biology of stroke, vascular brain injury, and Alzheimer’s disease.

A globally recognized thought leader with over 500 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Seshadri is a founding member of the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP) and a Principal Investigator for the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP). Her career has been marked by extensive NIH funding, dedicated mentorship of numerous physicians and scientists, and election to the prestigious Association of American Physicians.

Joel Simren, MD, PhD

Resident Physician in Clinical Chemistry, Sahlgrenska University Hospital; Research Associate, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg

Dr. Joel Simrén is a resident physician in Clinical Chemistry at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. He holds a PhD in neurochemistry and is affiliated with the Neurochemical Pathophysiology and Diagnostics research group at the Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, University of Gothenburg. His research focuses on fluid biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, particularly frontotemporal lobar degeneration and Alzheimer's disease.

Heather Snyder, PhD

Senior Vice President, Medical and Scientific Operations, Alzheimer's Association

Dr. Heather Snyder is the Senior Vice President of Medical and Scientific Relations at the Alzheimer's Association. In this role, she oversees the Association’s vast international funding initiatives, managing a portfolio of more than $490 million invested across over 1,220 active, best-of-field research projects spanning six continents.

Dr. Snyder provides strategic leadership for several of the dementia field’s most critical scientific projects. She serves on the executive team for the U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) and is a study team investigator for the Alzheimer’s Network for Treatment and Diagnostics (ALZ-NET), which gathers real-world data on FDA-approved novel treatments. Additionally, she has been instrumental in spearheading Association initiatives exploring biological sex and genetic factors that drive disease vulnerability in women, as well as global collaborations tracking the long-term neurological impacts of viral infections on the brain.

Outside of the Association, Dr. Snyder serves as the Chair of the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs for Alzheimer's Disease, and sits on the Research Committee for the American Heart Association. She earned her Ph.D. in molecular biology from the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia.

Ipsit Vahia, MD

Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Chief, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, McLean Hospital

Dr. Ipsit Vahia is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at McLean Hospital, where he holds the Corrigan-Minehan Endowed Chair in Psychiatry. He also serves as the Director of Digital Psychiatry Translation and heads the Technology and Aging Laboratory at McLean Hospital.

Dr. Vahia’s clinical and research program focuses on the intersection of aging, behavior, and technology. His work explores how digital tools, informatics, and artificial intelligence can be leveraged to enhance the care of older adults with dementia and late-life psychiatric disorders. He is particularly recognized for his research into passive sensing, machine learning, and digital phenotyping to predict and manage behavioral symptoms like agitation, apathy, and pacing in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

An active leader in the field, Dr. Vahia serves on the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Council on Geriatric Psychiatry and the Geriatric Psychiatry Committee of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is a former member of the board of directors for the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) and serves on the editorial boards of multiple international journals, including his role as social media editor for the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the AAGP Barry Lebowitz Award and the APA Hartford Jeste Award.

Jason Warren, PhD FRACP

Professor of Neurology, University College London; Consultant Neurologist, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery

Dr. Jason Warren is a Professor of Neurology at University College London (UCL) and a Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, where he co-directs the Specialist Cognitive Disorders Clinic.

Dr. Warren’s research primarily focuses on the systems neuroscience of major dementias, with a particular specialization in frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and primary progressive aphasias. As the leader of the Brain Behaviour Group within the UCL Dementia Research Centre, his work famously explores the interface of brain hearing, language, and dementia. His research integrates cognitive neuropsychology, structural and functional neuroimaging, and electrophysiological recordings to analyze how the brain processes complex sounds—including music, speech, and environmental audio—as sensitive markers for early neural network dysfunction.

An internationally recognized expert, Dr. Warren has contributed significantly to the clinical understanding of young-onset dementia, socioemotional processing deficits, and progressive aphasias. He also founded and co-directs the UCL MSc in Dementia (Neuroscience) program at the Queen Square Institute of Neurology. He completed his medical training at the University of Adelaide before moving to the UK, where he finished his postgraduate neurology training and earned his PhD in human auditory cortex physiology.

Heather Whitson, MD MHS

Professor of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine; Co-Director, Duke/UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center

Dr. Heather Whitson is the Duke School of Medicine Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience and a Professor of Medicine, Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Head & Neck Surgery at Duke University. She serves as the Director of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development and the Co-Director of the Duke/UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (Duke/UNC ADRC).

As a geriatrician, memory care specialist, and clinical investigator, Dr. Whitson focuses her career on improving care options and resilience for older adults living with multiple chronic conditions. She is a recognized national thought leader on physical resilience—investigating the biological, psychological, and contextual factors that determine how well individuals "bounce back" after acute health stressors such as surgery, infection, or vision loss.

Her extensive research program particularly explores how aging biology and comorbidities impact brain health, with a specific focus on the complex interface between late-life vision loss and cognitive decline. In addition to her research and institutional leadership, Dr. Whitson co-chairs the Alzheimer's Association's Clinical Practice Guideline panel for the use of blood-based biomarkers in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. She earned her MD from Cornell University and an MHS from Duke University, where she also completed her internal medicine residency and geriatrics fellowship.

Kristine Yaffe, MD

Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology, University of California, San Francisco; Director of the Center for Population Brain Health, University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Kristine Yaffe is the Scola Endowed Chair, Leon Epstein Endowed Chair and Vice Chair, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology, and Director of the Center for Population Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dual-trained in neurology and psychiatry, she also completed postdoctoral fellowships in clinical epidemiology and geriatric psychiatry at UCSF.

Dr. Yaffe is an internationally recognized expert in the epidemiology of dementia and a pioneering leader in identifying modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline. Her research group was the first to determine that potentially 30% to 40% of dementia risk is preventable. She has led groundbreaking lifecourse investigations into how physical activity, sleep disorders, traumatic brain injury, and cardiovascular health influence population brain health, and recently completed the first comprehensive lifestyle-based risk reduction trial in the United States.

With over 800 peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Yaffe is consistently recognized by Clarivate Analytics as one of the most highly cited researchers in her field. In recognition of her work, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019. Her numerous honors include the American Academy of Neurology's Potamkin Prize for Alzheimer’s Research, the NIH Robert S. Gordon, Jr. Award in Epidemiology, and the Department of Veterans Affairs John B. Barnwell Award.

Zahinoor Ismail, MD FRCPC

Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, Epidemiology, and Pathology, University of Calgary; Clinician Scientist, Hotchkiss Brain Institute and O'Brien Institute for Public Health

Dr. Zahinoor Ismail is a Clinician Scientist and Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, Epidemiology, and Pathology at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and O'Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary. He holds certification in Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry, and Geriatric Psychiatry, with over 20 years of clinical experience specializing in the neuropsychiatric spectrum.  

Dr. Ismail plays a pivotal national role in organizing dementia systems of care in Canada. He serves as the Chair of both the Canadian Conference on Dementia (CCD) and the Canadian Consensus Conference on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Dementia (CCCDTD), leading the development and publication of the country's national clinical dementia guidelines. At the federal level, he co-chairs the Ministerial Advisory Board on Dementia, advising the Minister of Health on Canada's national dementia strategy.

His globally recognized research program focuses on dementia epidemiology, neuroimaging, and fluid and digital biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases. His primary academic achievement is the development and validation of the diagnostic criteria and checklist for Mild Behavioral Impairment (MBI)—a novel pre-dementia syndrome and independent risk factor for cognitive decline. An accomplished author with over 175 peer-reviewed manuscripts, Dr. Ismail is the recipient of the 2024 Irma Parhad Award of Excellence and multiple international publication awards from the Alzheimer’s Association.