VAI Folio 2019

IT CONTINUES WITH A CULTURE THAT
VALUES CURIOSITY AND ENCOURAGES
BRIGHT MINDS TO TAKE RISKS IN THE
NAME OF PROGRESS.
AT THE FOREFRONT
One visit was all it took for Dr. Rita Guerreiro
and Dr. José Brás, scientists originally from
Portugal, to decide to join Van Andel Institute.
From their first moments in Grand Rapids,
they sensed an overwhelming institutional
commitment and understood how fully
their groundbreaking approaches would be
encouraged. They believed the breakthroughs
they hope to achieve would be possible.
Using cutting-edge genomic technologies,
bioinformatics and computational biology to
analyze robust and timely data from every
corner of the world, they are working to
understand why and how neurological
diseases occur, mindful with every step of
a shared goal to transform people’s lives
through discovery.
“The work we do at VAI is for people,
not just for the sake of science. Our
research analyzes massive amounts
of data to uncover the similarities
in people who have been affected by
neurodegenerative disorders like
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or Lewy
body dementia. This is cutting-edge
technology, but behind each data
point is a person we want to help.”
Dr. Rita Guerreiro
Associate Professor,
Center for Neurodegenerative Science
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