Dennis Selkoe

Dennis Selkoe, MD, is Vincent and Stella Coates Professor of Neurologic Diseases, Harvard Medical School; and Co-Director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Selkoe graduated Columbia and University of Virginia, trained at NIH, Harvard/Longwood Neurology, and HMS Department of Neuroscience. He and colleagues isolated the tangles of Alzheimer’s disease and co-discovered their antigenic relationship to tau. His research on amyloid ß-protein and APP led to the “amyloid hypothesis” of AD, showed that Ab is produced by cells throughout life, and showed that mutations in APP and, later, presenilin, increase Ab. Michael Wolfe and Dr. Selkoe identified presenilin as g-secretase. His lab has applied similar approaches to alpha-synuclein, the key protein of Parkinson’s disease. He has focused on translating his discoveries on the cause and mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease into therapeutic approaches, and his findings have provided the underpinnings and rationale of numerous disease-modifying trials currently underway worldwide.

He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the Association of American Physicians and a member of the National Academy of Medicine. He was the principal founding scientist of Athena Neurosciences, and is now a founding director of Prothena Biosciences.