Roberta D. Brinton

Wonder Makes Me Cure Alzheimer's

Brinton is an internationally recognized neuroscientist whose research on Alzheimer's disease has led to critical insights into the causes of the disease, as well as innovative therapies to treat it. She has led the Center for Innovation in Brain Science at the University of Arizona since 2016.

"The caliber, innovation and impact of Brinton's research and community outreach have been recognized repeatedly throughout her career," according to board materials. She received the national Presidential Citizens Medal for her decades of STEM education in inner-city schools in Los Angeles. She was presented with the Prize for Excellence in Alzheimer's Drug Discovery in 2017 from the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation and received the Scientist of the Year award from that same foundation in 2015.

Brinton, who was elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2017, serves on multiple national institutes and panels and in 2019 was appointed to the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health.

Her research has been funded with grants from state and federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, and funding from industry and private foundations. Research awards at the Center for Innovation in Brain Science under Brinton's directorship have totaled more than $71 million since the center's inception in 2016. In 2019, Brinton received a$37.5 million NIH grant to determine the effectiveness of allopregnanolone as a treatment for individuals with early-stage Alzheimer's who carry the genetic risk factor for the disease.