Biography

Alex is a biomedical scientist focused on neurological and psychiatric disease pathogenesis and therapeutic development. Alex received his BA and PhD from UC Berkeley with additional research training at the UC San Francisco Memory & Aging Center under the joint mentorship of Dr. Lea Grinberg and Dr. Daniela Kaufer. His training included specialization in neuropathology, epidemiology, comparative neurology, molecular genetics, and cell biology. During his PhD, he focused on pathways underlying the selective vulnerability of neuromodulatory subcortical structures to neurodegenerative diseases and stress disorders, such as PTSD. Through his work establishing clinical research programs at UC Berkeley’s Innovative Genomics Institute during graduate school, Alex became interested in gene and cell therapy applications to neurologic and psychiatric disorders.

Now, Alex is a faculty member at the UCSF Memory & Aging Center as a Translational Health Fellow with the Innovative Genomics Institute. Here, he is jointly supervised by Dr. Bruce Miller and Dr. Jennifer Doudna. In this role, Alex continues to study the pathophysiology of neurological and psychiatric disorders, focusing on identifying and developing targets for cell and gene therapies. He has an additional fellowship with the UC Berkeley Center for Resilience Studies to support efforts to improve outcomes for stress disorders, including early childhood adversity and post-traumatic stress.

Alex has received several awards and fellowships for his teaching and research including a graduate fellowship at the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center, the NIH-sponsored Cell and Gene Therapy fellowship at UC Berkeley's Stem Cell Center, and a Tau Leadership Award from the Rainwater Charitable Foundation. Additionally, Alex has held several leadership roles with the Alzheimer's Association, including a three year position as a science editor with their journal, Alzheimer's and Dementia, and serves as the chair for the neuromodulatory subcortical systems professional interest area for ISTAART.