Dr. Marsel Mesulam

Marsel Mesulam is Ruth Dunbar Davee Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease at Northwestern University. He obtained B.A. and M.D. degrees at Harvard University and was appointed Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. He established and led the Behavioral Neurology Unit at the Beth Israel Hospital of Harvard Medical School. He is past president of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping and of the Boston Society for Neurology and Psychiatry, and past vice president of the American Neurological Association.

His research has addressed the neural connectivity of the monkey brain, organization of human cholinergic pathways, representation of cognitive functions by large-scale networks, and neurobiology of dementias. He has received the Potamkin Prize for research on Alzheimer’s disease from the American Academy of Neurology, the Javits Award from the National Institutes of Health, the McKnight Foundation Director’s Award, and the Bengt Winblad Life Achievement Award from the Alzheimer’s Association. He held the Robert Wartenberg Lectureship and the H. Houston Merritt Lectureship of the American Academy of Neurology.

His textbook, Principles of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology, has been part of training programs in Neurology, Psychiatry, Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience.

His current research focuses on the functional imaging of neurocognitive networks, the factors that promote memory preservation in advanced age, and the treatment of dementias. His trainees in clinical, cognitive and basic neuroscience lead major research programs in the United States and abroad.