Speaker Profile
Ph.D., Director of the Neuroscience Translational Research Division, USC
Biography
Dr. Rissman is Professor Physiology and Neuroscience and the W.M. Keck Endowed Chair in Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC). He is the founding Director of the Neuroscience Translational Research Division (NTRD) at USC’s San Diego campus, Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute (ATRI). Concurrently with his research, Dr. Rissman also serves as the Biomarker Unit Lead for the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC) and USC’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Using biobanked human specimens, animal and cell models, the goal of Dr. Rissman’s basic science research is to identify and validate plasma biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (ADRD) to better understand mechanisms of neurodegeneration and to streamline clinical trials recruitment. Work from Dr. Rissman’s lab has led to the validation of plasma biomarkers that predict AD brain neuropathology and progression of dementia. Using animal and cell culture models, Dr. Rissman’s lab is focused on identifying synucleinopathy in AD can be identified.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2027 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
David Liebeskind, UCLA
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Li-Huei Tsai, MIT Picower Institute (Pioneer)
• Thomas C. Südhof, Stanford (Nobel Laureate, Pioneer)
• David Holtzman, WashU (Pioneer)
• Henrik Zetterberg, UCL / Gothenburg (Luminary)
Featured Speakers
• Thomas C. Südhof, Stanford
• Li-Huei Tsai, MIT Picower Institute
• David Holtzman, WashU
• Henrik Zetterberg, UCL / Gothenburg
• Mark Mintun, Lilly
• Randall Bateman, WashU
• Nikolaos Mellios, Circular Genomics
• Robert Rissman, USC
• Lynn Kramer, Eisai
• Thomas F. Tropea, University of Pennsylvania
• Ari J. Green, UCSF
• Diane Chan, Mass General Brigham
• Leslie Shaw, University of Pennsylvania
• Prashanthi Vemuri, Mayo Clinic
• Kejal Kantarci, Mayo Clinic
• Dan Huddleston, Lightbox Science
• Patrick Brannelly, 10K Brains
• Allan Levey, Emory
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Precision Diagnostics Across Neurology
From biomarker to bedside across neurological disease.
Neurodegeneration Beyond Alzheimer's
Parkinson's, ALS, and FTD in the precision era.
AI & Imaging Across Neurological Disease
Precision phenotyping in stroke, epilepsy, and neurodegeneration.
Why Precision Neurology Is Not Scaling
The evidence, infrastructure, access, and workflow barriers that must be fixed.
Harnessing Brain Rhythms
Gamma oscillations, brain circuits, and the future of neurotherapy.
PMWC Hall of Impact
Previous Speakers Include
Nobel laureates, technology founders, regulators, CEOs and scientific pioneers who have taken the PMWC stage.
