Reisa Sperling

Reisa Sperling, MD is a clinical neurologist, neuroimaging researcher, and a leading force in the movement towards earlier diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. She is Director of the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Director of the Neuroimaging Core and the Outreach Core of the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Her work has been largely focused on developing neuroimaging markers for Alzheimer’s disease, including functional and structural MRI and PET amyloid imaging, for early detection of brain dysfunction and potential outcome markers for clinical trials. Today, Dr. Sperling is actively working on clinical trials of potential disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, including secondary prevention trials in asymptomatic individuals with biomarker evidence of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Sperling chaired the recent National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer’s Association Workgroup, proposing a research framework to define the “Preclinical Stages” of Alzheimer’s disease, and to facilitate early intervention trials. She has received the American Academy of the Neurology Clinical Research Fellowship Award, the Harvard Medical School Scholars in Medicine Fellowship, the Alzheimer's Association Memory Ride Award, a Paul Beeson Faculty Scholars in Aging Award, and the 2007 American Academy of Neurology Research in Geriatric Neurology Award.