Rudolph E. Tanzi

Rudolph Emile 'Rudy' Tanzi (born September 18, 1958) is the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard University, Vice-Chair of Neurology, Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit, and Co-director of the Henry and Allison McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Tanzi has been investigating the genetics of neurological disease since the 1980s when he participated in the first study that used genetic markers to find a disease gene (Huntington's disease). 

Dr. Tanzi co-discovered all three familial early-onset Alzheimer's disease (FAD) genes and several other neurological disease genes responsible for Wilson’s disease. As the leader of the Cure Alzheimer's Fund Alzheimer's Genome Project, Dr. Tanzi has carried out multiple genome-wide association studies of thousands of Alzheimer's families, leading to the identification of novel AD candidate genes, including CD33 and the first two rare mutations causing late-onset AD in the ADAM10 gene. 

His research on the role of zinc and copper in AD has led to clinical trials at Prana Biotechnology (now Alterity Therapeutics). He is also working on gamma-secretase modulators (together with Dr. Steven Wagner, UCSD) to prevent and treat Alzheimer's. He also serves as Chair of the Cure Alzheimer's Fund Research Leadership Group and Director of the Cure Alzheimer's Fund Alzheimer's Genome Project™.

Dr. Tanzi's team was the first to use human stem cells to create three-dimensional cell culture organoids of AD, dubbed “Alzheimer's-in-a-Dish.” This model was the first to recapitulate all three key AD pathological hallmarks in vitro and the first to definitively show that beta-amyloid directly causes neurofibrillary tangles and filaments. The 3-D model also made drug screening for AD faster and more cost-effective. Using this system, Dr. Tanzi has developed several novel therapies for AD, including gamma-secretase modulators targeting amyloid pathology, ALZT-OP1 targeting neuroinflammation, and a neuroprotective drug combination, AMX0035, which was successful in a clinical trial of ALS. 

Dr. Tanzi also discovered that beta-amyloid plays a functional role in the brain as an anti-microbial peptide, supporting a role for infection in AD pathology. Dr. Tanzi serves as Chair of the Cure Alzheimer's Fund Research Leadership Group and numerous advisory and editorial boards; he has published over 600 research papers and has received the highest awards in his field, including the Metropolitan Life Foundation Award, Potamkin Prize, Ronald Reagan Award, Silver Innovator Award, the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award, and the Brain Research Foundation Award. 

In 2015, he was named to TIME magazine's list of TIME100 Most Influential People in the World. He co-authored the books Decoding Darkness and the three international bestsellers Super Brain, Super Genes, and The Healing Self with Dr. Deepak Chopra. Dr. Tanzi has hosted three shows on public television, regularly appears on television news programs, has testified to Congress on both Alzheimer's disease and brain health, and on occasion serves as a studio keyboard player for Aerosmith and other musicians.

Dr. Tanzi has published over 600 scientific papers, including several of the most cited papers in the field of Alzheimer's disease research. Dr. Tanzi also co-authored the books Decoding Darkness: The Search the Genetic Causes of Alzheimer's Disease, the New York Times Best Seller Super Brain: Unleashing the Explosive Power of Your Mind to Maximize Health, Happiness, and Spiritual Well-Being, Super Genes: Unlock the Astonishing Power of Your DNA for Optimum Health and Well-Being, and The Healing Self: A Revolutionary New Plan to Supercharge Your Immunity and Stay Well for Life with Deepak Chopra. 

Tanzi has made numerous television appearances on shows such as CBS This Morning, the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Nova, and Dr. Oz. He also hosts the shows Super Brain with Dr. Rudy Tanzi, Super Genes with Dr. Rudy Tanzi, and The Brain Body Mind Connection with Dr. Rudy Tanzi and Dr. Deepak Chopra on PBS television.

Dr. Tanzi received his B.S. in microbiology and B.A. in history from the University of Rochester in 1980. In 1990, he received his Ph.D. in neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, where his doctoral thesis was on the discovery and isolation of the gene that encodes amyloid precursor protein (APP), the precursor to beta-amyloid, which is a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and generally accepted as the central driver of the disease. The results were published in Science more or less simultaneously with two other groups in 1986-7.

At the start of his career in 1980, Dr. Tanzi worked as a research technologist for Dr. James Gusella at Massachusetts General Hospital. He assisted in localizing the Huntington's disease gene, which was published in Nature in 1983. This was the first human disease gene to be found using genetic linkage and the first set of human genetic markers based on single nucleotide variants.