David Holtzman M.D.
Central 1979
David M. Holtzman graduated from Central High in 1979. He received his bachelor's degree in medical education in 1983 and his medical degree in 1985 from Northwestern University. He lives in St. Louis, MO.
Dave is the chairman of the neurology department at Washington University, which has 92 faculty members and is one of the top two government-funded departments in the United States doing neurology research. He is the Charlotte and Paul Hagemann and the Andrew and Gretchen Jones professor of neurology at Washington University and the neurologist in chief at Barnes Jewish Hospital. He is also a professor of molecular biology and pharmacology.
His research focuses on the underlying mechanisms that lead to Alzheimer's disease in an effort to improve diagnosis and treatment. In addition to seeing patients in the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and the Memory Diagnostic Center, Dave leads a research team working with animal models of Alzheimer's. The group has been instrumental in showing how dangerous amounts of a certain protein begin to accumulate in the brain many years before symptoms arise.
In collaboration with colleagues at Eli Lilly and Co., his laboratory work has found a novel potential way to both diagnose and treat Alzheimer's disease. Dave also investigates the opposite end of the lifespan spectrum, focusing on brain damage before, during and immediately after birth.
Dave has published over 100 scientific articles and has received several awards including the 2003 MetLife award for research for Alzheimer's disease as well as the Potamkin Prize, the top international award for Alzheimer's disease research.
Before coming to Washington University as an assistant professor of neurology in 1984, Dave served as an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco. He began his career at that same university during a medical internship and residency following his graduation from Northwestern.