Alzheimer’s Disease Steering Committee to Design Initial Clinical Trial

Published:

A new Steering Committee to guide the Foundation’s efforts in developing the use of focused ultrasound (FUS) for treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD) kicked off on May 1st. The primary goal of the group is to devise a protocol for a FUS Phase I clinical safety and feasibility study. This research will be performed at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. Todd Mainprize, MD, will serve as the lead Principal Investigator with Sandra Black, MA, MD as co-investigator. The group plans to complete the clinical protocol by the end of the 2015.

The Foundation’s Chief Medical Officer, Suzanne LeBlang, MD will join committee chair Steven T. DeKosky, MD, Professor of Neurology Emeritus, UVA School of Medicine to lead the group. The additional inaugural members are:

Sandra Black, MA, MD, Senior Scientist in Evaluative Clinical Sciences and Director of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program at Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Canada

Sam Gandy, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine, Mt. Sinai, NY

Kullervo Hynynen, MEc, PhD, Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics and Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada

Todd Mainprize, MD, Neurosurgeon, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada

Lon Schneider, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Jim Torner, PhD, Professor and Chairman, Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (ex-officio)

Eyal Zadicario, MSc, Director of Technology Development and the ExAblate Neuro Program Worldwide, INSIGHTEC