John Q. Trojanowski, M.D., Ph.D.

Co-Director, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research
Director, Institute on Aging & Director
Director, Alzheimer's Disease Core Center
Director, Penn Udall Center for Parkinson's Research
William Maul Measey-Truman G. Schnabel, Jr. MD Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology

Mailing Address:

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Maloney 3rd Floor, 36th and Spruce Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19104-4283 USA
Office: 215-662-6399	Fax: 215-349-5909
E-mail: trojanow@mail.med.upenn.edu

Partners in Research Websites:

Institute on Aging Website

Penn ADCC Website

Penn Udall Center Website

Publications are available through Pubmed.

Research currently centers on molecular mechanisms of neuron dysfunction, degeneration and death in normal aging and in neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementias with/without parkinsonism, motor neuron disease, etc.). This research uses immunological, biochemical, genetic, molecular and morphological methods to study human CNS and PNS tissue samples (postmortem or surgical), cell lines, synthetic proteins, and transgenic models of neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Trojanowski is involved in collaborative initiatives between PENN Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing to advance drug discovery, clinical research, and patient care related to Alzheimer’s disease and the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) to test whether serial magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, other biological markers, and clinical and neuropsychological assessment can be combined to measure the progression of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Trojanowski obtained his M.D./Ph.D. in 1976 from Tufts University in Boston. After a medicine internship at Mt. Auburn Hospital and Harvard Medical School, he began pathology/neuropathology training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (1977-1979), and completed training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1980 where he was appointed assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (1/1/1981) and rose to tenured full professor in 1990. Dr. Trojanowski holds major leadership positions at the University of Pennsylvania including:

Director, National Institute of Aging (NIA) Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center (1991-present),
Principal Investigator, NIA Program Project Grant on Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s (PD) disease (1990-present),
Director, Medical Pathology (1988-2002),
Interim Director (2001-2002) and Director (2002-present), Institute on Aging
Co-Director, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (1992-present)
William Maul Measey-Truman G. Schnabel, Jr., M.D. Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology
Co-director, Marian S. Ware Alzheimer Drug Discovery Program
Director, Penn Udall Center for Parkinson's Research

For over 15 years, Dr. Trojanowski has conducted research on AD, PD, motor neuron disease, dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), frontotemporal dementias (FTDs) and related disorders. Most of his over 500 publications focus on the pathobiology of neurodegenerative disorders, especially the role of abnormal filamentous protein aggregates in these diseases.

Dr. Trojanowski received awards for his research including:

MERIT Award (1986-1994), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Metropolitan Life Foundation Promising Investigator Award For Alzheimer’s Disease Research (1991)
Membership, American Society of Clinical Investigation (1991)
Established Investigator Award, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (1994)
Metropolitan Life Foundation Award For Alzheimer’s Disease Research (1996)
Potamkin Prize For Research In Pick’s, Alzheimer’s And Related Diseases (1998)
First Pioneer Award from the Alzheimer’s Association (1998)
ISI Highly Cited Researcher 2000 (most highly cited neuroscientists for 1981-1999)
The Stanley Cohen Biomedical Research Award of the University of Pennsylvania (2000)
Membership, Association of American Physicians (2000)
The 2004 Irving Wright Award of Distinction of the American Federation for Aging Research
2005 Rous-Whipple Award of the American Society for Investigative Pathology

Dr. Trojanowski has served as president of the American Association of Neuropathologists (1997-1998), and is on the editorial board of several neuroscience and pathology journals. Dr. Trojanowski was elected to the Institute of Medicine (2002) and he has served and continues to serve on local and national aging research committees including the NIA Neuroscience, Behavior and Sociology of Aging Study Section (1987-1991), the National Advisory Council on Aging (NACA) of the NIA (1994-1998), the NACA Working Group Chair (1996-1998), the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board of the National Alzheimer’s Association (1994-1997) as well as of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association (1992- present), the NIA Board of Scientific Counselors (1998-present), the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholars In Aging Award (1998-present), the Alliance for Aging Research (2002-present) and the Association of Frontotemporal Dementia (2003-present), the Program Committee of the World Alzheimer Congress 2000 (1998-2000), Chair of the "Biology of Synuclein and Cortical Lewy Bodies Associated with Dementia in AD, LBD, and PD" (July, 2001) and “Genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease (March, 2002) workshops organized by NIA and the National Institute on Neurological Diseases and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, and the Organizing Committee of the 6th (Seville, Spain, 2003) and 7th (Sorrento, Italy, 2005) International Conferences On Progress In Alzheimer’s And Parkinson’s Disease (2001-2005).