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ALZpath was founded with the vision of improving the lives of those impacted by Alzheimer’s disease

Founded in 2020, we are a passionate, diverse, and focused group of medical researchers, healthcare professionals, and renowned scientific advisors dedicated to transforming the Alzheimer’s disease ecosystem through timely diagnosis.

 

We understand the undue impact this disease places upon persons, families, caregivers, and the community at large. We are rooted in the belief that with a timely and accurate diagnosis, targeted treatment, education, and the appropriate care and support resources, it is possible for people to live well after an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. This is possible only by fundamentally rethinking, and rewriting the current diagnosis, treatment, and management paradigm.

Through our passion, creativity, and perseverance, we will rewrite the Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, treatment, and management paradigm. We are steadfast in our commitment to improve the lives of those impacted by this disease.

Leadership Team

Venkat Shastri, PhD

Co-Founder, CEO
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Andreas Jeromin, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer
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Jacob Hunter

Chief Business OFFICER
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Board of Directors

Jerre Stead

Jerre Stead

Co-Founder, Chair
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Venkat Shastri, PhD

Co-Founder, CEO
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John Hensing

John Hensing, MD

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Harry Johns

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Irit Rappley,
PhD

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Portrait of John

John Courtney

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Advisory Board

Jeff Cummings

Jeff Cummings, MD, ScD

Chair
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Peter Snyder, PhD

Vice Chair
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Eric Reiman, MD

Co-Founder
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Kaj Blennow, MD, PhD

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Jeff Dage, PhD

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Oskar Hansson, MD, PhD

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Soeren Mattke, MD, DSc

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Michael Weiner, MD

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Henrik Zetterberg, PhD

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Sterling Johnson, PhD

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Our Partners

Indiana University - School of Medicine
UCL

Please contact us if you are interested in partnering with ALZpath

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Copyright 2024 ALZpath Inc. All Rights Reserved

Venkat Shastri, PhD

Co-Founder, CEO

Venkat Shastri co-founded ALZpath in 2020 with Eric Reiman and Jerre Stead to transform the Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) diagnosis and the care of AD patients. In his role as CEO and Director, he sets the company’s direction and strategy, and prioritizes its products and services. Venkat is also a member of the Board of Directors of Primo Energy (renewable energy) and is the Chairman of Darroch Medical (medical devices). Before this, Venkat served as Chief Industry Advisor of PCN Technology, after leading the company as its CEO and Director for eight years. Between 2002 and 2004, Venkat was VP of Engineering at Palomar Technologies, a semiconductor packaging equipment and process solutions. Prior to Palomar, he was Senior Director of Engineering and Product Development at KLA-Tencor, where he managed its automation products and services. Venkat and the companies he led have received leadership and entrepreneurship, including the Engineering Leadership Award from the San Diego County Engineering Council (2019), Red Herring Global Top 100 Company Award (2012), Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Finalist in 2011), and Frost & Sullivan Innovation Award (2007).

Andreas Jeromin, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Jeromin joined ALZpath in 2022 as Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to this, he led a team at Cohen Veterans Biosciences focused on biomarker discovery, validation, and development, as well as all other translational research programs. Dr. Jeromin has co-authored more than 200 publications and has led biomarker discovery and validation programs in central nervous system (CNS) disorders with a specific focus on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and neurodegeneration. He was a co-investigator on several landmark diagnostic and therapeutic studies in TBI and other neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, Dr. Jeromin was responsible for planning and executing several diagnostic CNS biomarker commercialization programs. Dr. Jeromin is a member of the scientific advisory board for a public-private consortia focused on neurodegenerative and neurological disorders with a particular focus on validating and developing biomarkers for clinical diagnostic use.

Jacob Hunter

VP Business & Corporate Development

Jacob Hunter joined ALZpath in 2020 as Vice President of Business and Corporate Development. He has over 15 years of experience in biotech and diagnostic business development with a focus on negotiating and structuring complex and collaborative partnerships. He has held commercial, business development, and marketing leadership positions of increasing responsibility at Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Agilent Technologies, and Foundation Medicine; and has extensive international work experience across four continents. Jake is a combat veteran and proudly served in the United States Army, achieving the rank of Captain. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Jerre Stead

Co-Founder, Chair

Jerre Stead was Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Clarivate plc from June 2019 until his October 2022 retirement. Jerre served as CEO of Churchill Capital Corp until its May 2019 merger with Clarivate.

Jerre has had a long and very successful career as a public company CEO and Clarivate is the tenth public company in which he has served as CEO and/or Chairman. Over the last two decades, he has created a world leader and one of the fastest-growing companies in the information services sector. Prior to leading Clarivate, he served as Chairman and CEO at IHS Markit, Ltd. and previously as Executive Chairman and CEO at IHS Inc. The other highly successful technology and information companies he has led include Honeywell-Phillips Medical Electronics, Square D, AT&T Global Business Communications Systems, AT&T Global Information Solutions (NCR Corporation), NCR Japan, Legent Corporation and Ingram Micro.

In addition, Jerre has served on 37 corporate boards during his career and received numerous accolades for his work, including the July 2017 Kenneth B. West Lifetime Achievement Award which he received by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) in recognition of his service on corporate and philanthropic boards.

A graduate of the University of Iowa and the Harvard University Advanced Management Program in Switzerland, Jerre earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He is chairman of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute as well as chairman of the board of Garret Evangelical Seminary and he sits on the American Writers Museum and Guideposts boards.

John Hensing, MD

After residency training and serving as a flight surgeon for the US Air Force, Dr. Hensing practiced internal medicine for 18 years prior to joining the Samaritan Health System (SHS) as Senior Vice President of Medical Services in 1995, and he assumed the role as senior physician leader within Banner in 2000. His responsibilities included the Departments of Care Management, Risk Management, Corporate Information Technology, Medical and Clinical Informatics, Process Engineering/Design, Clinical Innovation, Remote Presence Technology, Clinical Education, and Banner Research. Dr. Hensing was awarded the Arizona Distinguished Internist of the Year Award in 1993 and the 2011 Laureate Award by the Arizona Chapter of the American College of Physicians. He is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians and was recognized as one of the 50 most influential physicians in the U.S. by Modern HealthCare in 2013.

Harry Johns

Harry Johns is a member of the Alzpath Board. He was previously the CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association, taking on the role in 2005 and leaving his staff position, to become a volunteer for the organization, at the end of 2022. He served the American Cancer Society for more than twenty years, where his last role was on the executive team, as Executive Vice President, responsible for organization-wide strategy, including consumer-facing engagement. He began his career on Capitol Hill, as a Congressional staff member, responsible for special projects. He has been a member of the board of the National Health Council and a member of the board and executive committee of Research America. He served six years as a member of the federal government’s Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care, and Services, appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. And, he has served as a member and Chair of the World Dementia Council, and as the Chair of its Trustees, originally appointed to the Council by the government of the United Kingdom, and elected to the subsequent roles. He has a bachelor’s degree in business from Eckerd College and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He understands Alzheimer’s not just from his professional experience, but also from his personal encounters with it, as a caregiver, along with his wife, Cindy, for both his mother and hers.

Irit Rappley, PhD

Irit Rappley is Vice President of Neuroscience and Translational Research at Recursion Pharmaceuticals, where she leads drug discovery efforts in the neuroscience space and is working to reimagine the drug discovery process through the application of machine learning and automation. Dr. Rappley began her industry career in the Protein Homeostasis group at Celgene, working on teams that identified and developed small molecule drug candidates for leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood cancers. Several of those candidates are in clinical trials today. She helped to initiate and build the Neuroscience group at Celgene, serving in positions of increasing responsibility and leading external collaborations that generated multiple investigational new drug applications. After the acquisition of Celgene by Bristol Myers Squibb, Dr. Rappley transitioned into the role of Scientific Director of Discovery and Translational Research, Neuroscience, where she led the biomarkers teams for all neuroscience programs entering the clinic. She earned her PhD in Neurobiology at Harvard and completed her postdoctoral training at Scripps Research, with a focus on the biochemistry and biophysics of protein homeostasis, misfolding, and aggregation.

John Courtney

In addition to serving on several boards John Courtney is an Operating Partner at InTandem Capital. John will often assume the role of interim Chief Operating Officer in order to assist the CEO round out the executive team. John is able to leverage his experience across a wide array of industries, from small companies to large multinationals, and domestic and international markets to build rigor into the processes.

 

Before joining InTandem, John served as head of operations for eBay’s Asia Pacific business headquartered in Singapore. His responsibilities included cross-border payment operations, counterfeit and fraud management, as well as warehouse and supply chain logistics for all domestic/international shipping operations. Prior to this role, John oversaw eBay’s third-party partnerships and commercial agreements worldwide. Prior to joining eBay in 2009, John was Chief Information Officer for Clayton Holdings. He oversaw software engineering for a suite of products that served the fixed income and asset management market. John was also responsible for the telecom/datacom infrastructure and all the data centers.

 

John previously served as the Vice President of Corporate Business Applications at Intuit, other roles including oversight for product management, software engineering, data warehouse, analytics, call center, and supply chain systems. Prior to Intuit, John was a founding member and Chief Technology Officer of EmployeeMatters, an HR, benefits, and payroll startup acquired by Intuit. He also served as VP of Operations & Technology at Citibank Investment Services, and First Vice President of Electronic Trading Systems at Waterhouse Securities.

 

John also teaches at the University of Iowa Tippie school of business. He resides in Iowa City, Iowa and is a father to three adult kids. His passions include team sports.

Jeff Cummings, MD, ScD

Chair

Jeffrey Cummings, MD, ScD, is the Joy Chambers-Grundy Professor of Brain Science, Director of the Chambers-Gundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience, Co-Director of the Pam Quirk Brain Health and Biomarker Laboratory, Department of Brain Health, School of Integrated Health Sciences, University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). Dr. Cummings is globally recognized for his contributions to Alzheimer’s research, drug development, and clinical trials. He has been recognized for his research and leadership contributions in the field of Alzheimer’s disease through many awards including the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Award of the national Alzheimer’s Association (2008), Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology (2017), Distinguished Scientist Award of the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry (2010), Bengt Winblad Lifetime Achievement Award from the national Alzheimer’s Association (2019), and the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s Melvin R. Goodes Prize. He was featured in the Gentleman’s Quarterly (June 2009) as a “Rock Star of Science™.” Dr. Cummings completed Neurology residency and a Fellowship in Behavioral Neurology at Boston University, followed by a Research Fellowship in Neuropathology and Neuropsychiatry at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London. Dr. Cummings was formerly Director of the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at UCLA, and Director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Dr. Cummings’ interests embrace clinical trials, developing new therapies for brain diseases, and the interface of neuroscience and society. He has authored or edited 43 books and published over 800 peer-reviewed papers.

Peter Snyder, PhD

Professor Snyder received his doctorate in clinical neuropsychology and behavioral neuroscience from Michigan State University in 1992, following a residency at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Dr. Snyder was awarded the 1992 Wilder Penfield Fellowship by the American Epilepsy Society and Epilepsy Foundation of America, and he served as a Clinical Neurosciences Fellow in the NIMH Clinical Research Center for the Study of Schizophrenia at Hillside Hospital (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) in 1992 and 1993.

Dr. Snyder is the Founding Editor-in-Chief for Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring (an Alzheimer’s Association open access journal), and he manages a robust research program. His academic interests span across a range of topics in neuropharmacology, neurophysiology, history of neuroscience and research ethics; his clinical interests are currently focused on the topics of aging and dementia. From 1998 through 2005, Dr. Snyder was employed as a scientist, clinician, and director at Pfizer Global Research & Development – Groton Laboratories (Connecticut, USA) – the largest research laboratory of Pfizer Inc. Dr. Snyder was responsible for the identification and development of novel clinical technologies and biomarkers for the CNS therapeutic area at Pfizer. As a Director and Early Clinical Leader at Pfizer, Dr. Snyder led the development of novel compounds for the treatment of schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Currently, Dr. Snyder is the Vice President for Research & Economic Development at the University of Rhode Island, where he also serves as a Professor of Biomedical Sciences as well as of Art and Art History (sculpture/wood).

Eric Reiman, MD

Co-Founder

Dr. Reiman is an ALZpath Co-Founder and Advisor. He is also Executive Director of Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, Chief Executive Officer of Banner Research, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona, University Professor of Neuroscience at Arizona State University, Senior Scientist at the Translational Genomics Research Institute, Director of the NIH-sponsored Arizona Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), and a leader of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative (API). A psychiatrist and brain imaging researcher by background, his interests include brain imaging, emerging blood-based biomarkers, APOE and genomics research, the unusually early detection and tracking of Alzheimer’s disease, the discovery and accelerated evaluation of Alzheimer’s prevention therapies, and new models of research collaboration and clinical care. He is an author of more than 600 publications, a principal investigator of several large research NIH grants, other research grants, and contracts; a former member of the National Advisory Council on Aging (NIA Council); and a recipient of the Potamkin Prize for his contributions to the study, early detection, and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.

Kaj Blennow, MD, PhD

Dr. Blennow is professor and academic chair in neurochemistry at the University of Gothenburg, and head of the Clinical Neurochemistry Lab at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden. He has a specialist competency in both general psychiatry and clinical chemistry, and holds the Torsten Söderberg Professorship at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Dr. Blennow has published more than 1,800 original research papers and review articles in peer-reviewed journals, has an h-index of 161, and his papers have been cited more than 125,000 times.

He is president of the Society for CSF Analysis and Clinical Neurochemistry, head of the Alzheimer’s Association quality control program for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, and chair of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) working group for CSF proteins. He has received several scientific awards, including the CINP Award (1992), the IPA Research Award (1993), the Alois Alzheimer Research Award (2001), the ECNP Clinical Research Award (2010), the Henry Wisniewski Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer’s Disease Research (2011), the International Foundation for Research in Alzheimer’s Disease (IFRAD) European Grand Prix for Research (2013), and the Söderberg Prize in Medicine from the Swedish Society of Medicine (2016).

Jeff Dage, PhD

Jeffrey L. Dage, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Professor of Neurology at Indiana University School of Medicine. He holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics. He is the co-leader of the genetics biomarker and biosample core of the Indiana Alzheimer’s Research Center and of the Longitudinal Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Study. He is the Scientific Director of the National Centralized Repository for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (NCRAD). The current focus of his research is the discovery and development of biomarkers to aid in the understanding of neurodegenerative diseases. Prior to joining IUSM, Dr. Dage worked for Eli Lilly and Company for over 20 years where he pioneered the development of assays for measuring phosphorylated tau in blood.

Oskar Hansson, MD, PhD

Dr. Oskar Hansson gained his PhD in neurobiology in 2001 and his M.D. in 2005. He became senior consultant in neurology in 2012 at Skåne University Hospital, and full professor of neurology in 2017 at Lund University, Sweden. Oskar Hansson performs internationally recognized clinical and translational research focusing on the early phases of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. His work on biomarkers has led to over 400 original peer-reviewed publications. He heads the prospective and longitudinal Swedish BioFINDER studies (www.biofinder.se), where the research team focuses on the development of optimized diagnostic algorithms for early diagnosis, and also studies the consequences of different brain pathologies on cognitive, neurologic and psychiatric symptoms in healthy individuals and patients with dementia and parkinsonian disorders. Recently, the BioFINDER team has shown that Tau PET imaging can with high accuracy distinguish Alzheimer’s from all other neurodegenerative diseases (JAMA, 2018), predict cognitive decline in cognitively normal individuals (Nature Medicine, 2022), and to detect different subtypes of Alzheimer’s (Nature Medicine 2021). He has also developed and validated blood-based biomarkers for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease (Nature Medicine, 2020; JAMA, 2020, Nature Aging 2021, Nature Medicine 2021, Nature Medicine 2022). He is the co-director of the strategic research area of neuroscience at Lund University, and responsible for research at the Memory Clinic at Skåne University Hospital.

Soeren Mattke, MD, DSc

Soeren Mattke (MD, DSc) is a Research Professor of Economics at USC where he directs the USC Brain Health Observatory. The Observatory conducts research into health system preparedness for diagnosing and treating disorders of the central nervous system. It has published reports on 15 countries’ readiness for an Alzheimer’s treatment and numerous papers on the economic, political and societal implications of such a treatment. Prior to joining USC, Dr. Mattke led RAND Health’s private sector practice and worked at the OECD in Paris, in the healthcare practice of Bain & Company in Boston, at Abt Associates, a policy consulting firm in Cambridge, MA, and at Harvard University. He trained as an internist and cardiologist at the University of Munich and received his doctoral degree in health policy at Harvard.

Michael Weiner, MD

Dr. Weiner has been conducting research for more than 50 years and is Principal Investigator of the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), and the BrainHealthRegistry.org. In 1980, he was one of the first to perform MRS on an intact animal. He then pursued development of MRI/MRS as a clinical tool and established the Magnetic Resonance Unit at the San Francisco VA (later named Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases). Since 1990, he’s been a Professor in Radiology, Medicine, Psychiatry and Neurology at UCSF. Dr. Weiner has published over 900 peer-reviewed articles, holds 19 separate research grants, and has received numerous honors. Most recently, an Honorary Professorship Award from Australian Catholic University in 2018, a Docteur Honoris Causa Degree from Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France in 2019, and the Henry Wisniewski Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer’s Disease Research, from the Alzheimer’s Association in 2021.

Henrik Zetterberg

Henrik Zetterberg is a Professor of Neurochemistry at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and University College London, UK, and a Clinical Chemist at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden. He is Head of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry at the University of Gothenburg, leads the UK DRI Fluid Biomarker Laboratory at UCL, and is a Key Member of the Hong Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and a Visiting Professor in the UW Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin. His main research focus and clinical interest are fluid biomarkers for brain diseases, neurodegenerative diseases in particular.

Sterling Johnson, PhD

Sterling Johnson, PhD is the Jean R. Finley Professor of Geriatrics and Dementia in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health where he has worked since 2002. A clinical neuropsychologist, he is the Associate Director and the Biomarker Core leader of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. He is also the principal investigator of the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention (WRAP) which is a long-running observational longitudinal cohort study of 1700 adults who are enriched for risk of Alzheimer’s Disease due to parental family history. Johnson’s lab is interested in longitudinal brain changes in preclinical AD that define its window, and in disambiguating the brain and cognitive changes that take place in AD from normal aging, and from other pathologies. His lab is also studying ways of detecting multi-etiology causes of cognitive impairment. Dr. Johnson’s research has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1997. He has authored or coauthored over 360 peer reviewed publications.