Harvard neurology professor to discuss novel therapeutic approaches

KINGSTON, R.I. – April 6, 2010 – The University of Rhode Island’s Rhode Island Geriatric Education Center will host Rudolph Tanzi to speak about Alzheimer’s disease on April 14.

A professor of neurology at Harvard University, Tanzi’s lecture, “Alzheimer’s Disease: What Have We Learned and Where Are We Going”, will include a discussion of the identifying process of the genes associated with the disease. The lecture will address various developing therapies for treatment and prevention of the disease.

The lecture will take place on April 14 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at URI in Edwards Auditorium, 64 Upper College Road. Following the lecture, a reception will be held at the URI Alumni Center until 5:30 p.m. It also will be livecast at URI Live!.

Tanzi is the director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and investigator of Alzheimer’s disease on the genetic level. Named as one of the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2008 by Time magazine, Tanzi has led the Alzheimer’s Genome Project as well as other research endeavors that have furthered Alzheimer’s Disease knowledge.

Tanzi’s lecture is part of the fifth annual Malford Thewlis Lecture. The series honors the late Dr. Thewlis’, a founder of the American Geriatrics Society in 1942, and acknowledges his accomplishments and contributions to the field.

The Rhode Island Geriatric Education Center is an association of various agencies including the URI colleges of Nursing, Pharmacy, and Human Science and Services; Brown University School of Medicine/R.I. Area Health Education Center; Rhode Island College Schools of Nursing and Social Work; and Roger Williams Medical Center. It is funded, in part, by a grant from the Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The event is free and open to the public. To RSVP to the reception or for more information, please contact Judith Sweeney at 401.874.5311 or visit http://www.uri.edu/outreach/rigec.

This release was written by Alicia Blain, an intern in URI’s Department of Communications and Marketing and a public relations major.