Career Development Symposium - American Neurological Association

Speaker/Mentor Biographies
D. Steve Snyder, PhD
National Institute on Aging/Bethesda, MD
Dr. D. Stephen Snyder, PhD currently serves as the acting director of the
Division of Neuroscience (DN) at the National Institute on Aging. Dr.
Snyder has been a member of the DN staff since October 1990,
overseeing research portfolios and programs in fundamental
neuroscience and the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease. He previously held
concurrent appointments at the University of Tennessee Medical School
(Departments of Neurology and Anatomy) and the Research Service, VA
Medical Center in Memphis from 1984 to 1990 where he studied aspects of multiple sclerosis
and peripheral nerve degeneration. Dr. Snyder received his B.S. in biology from Loyola College,
his M.S. in cell biology from Adelphi University, and his Ph.D. in pathology from Albert Einstein
College of Medicine. His postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Neurology at the
University of Tennessee Medical School focused on lysosomal proteases and myelin-related
disorders. His interests remain the cell biological aspects of Alzheimer’s disease- especially the
synapse, neuronal and vascular stress, and the biology of prion protein. Dr. Snyder is published
in journals and book chapters and has served on numerous NIA and NIH committees and
workgroups.
Reisa Sperling, MD
Brigham and Women's Hospital/Boston, MA
Reisa Sperling, MD, MMS is a neurologist, specializing in dementia and
imaging research, and an Associate Professor in Neurology at Harvard Medical
School. Dr. Sperling is the Director of the Center for Alzheimer Research and
Treatment at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and serves as the Director of the
Alzheimer’s disease Neuroimaging Program of the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s
Disease Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Sperling’s
research is focused on the early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s
disease. Her recent work involves the use of functional MRI and PET amyloid imaging to study
alterations in brain function in aging and early Alzheimer’s disease. She is the Principal
Investigator on multiple NIH and Foundation grants to investigate the basis of memory
impairment in aging and early Alzheimer’s disease, including a new National Institute on Aging
Program Project grant – the Harvard Aging Brain Study - to investigate the impact of amyloid on
brain aging. She was recently chosen to lead the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer’s
Association working group to develop recommendations for the study of “Preclinical Alzheimer’s
disease”. Dr. Sperling also oversees a number of clinical trials of potential disease-modifying
therapies in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease dementia at the BWH Center for
Alzheimer Research and Treatment.
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