Dr. Hyman received his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Iowa, where he remained to persue residency training in neurology and fellowship in neurobehavior and neuropathology. Early on his research interests focused on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and characterizing pathological changes in the hippocampus, and have expanded to include the neuropathophysiology and genetics of neurodegenerative diseases, including not only AD, but also dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease. He is currently the John B. Penny Jr. Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, and director of the MGH Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. His numerous awards and honors include the S. Weir Mitchel Neurology Award, Metropolitan Life Foundation Award, Alzheimer’s Association Faculty Scholar and Pioneer Merit Awards, Scientific American 2005 Technology Prize, Potamkin Award 2006, and AHAF Centennial Award 2007. His laboratory is located at the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MIND) and employs state-of-the-art techniques including transgenic mouse models, advanced microscopy for in vivo imaging, and fluorescence techniques that allow observation of protein-protein interactions within cells. Using these techniques his laboratory has been able to track disease changes in mice and have shown dynamic changes in AD plaques, as well as plaque removal with antibodies. In addition to Alzheimer’s research, his laboratory studies the role of the protein alpha-synuclein in Parkinson disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, and he is a founding member of the MGH-MIT Udall Center for the study of Parkinson disease. Using cellular and animal models of PD, they have found several molecules which can change the metabolism and effects of synuclein, and which may be targets for preventative or neuroprotective treatments.