Dr. David Holtzman Honored with 2021 President’s Achievement Award

The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital has awarded the 2021 President’s Achievement Award to David M. Holtzman, MD, the Barbara Burton and Reuben M. Morriss III Distinguished Professor and the scientific director of the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders and associate director of the Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine.

The President’s Achievement Award is given to a physician or faculty partner whose distinct and extraordinary accomplishments are advancing medicine, ensuring the delivery of world class patient care, and educating the next generation of clinicians.

Dr. Holtzman is a renowned neurologist and neuroscientist who has focused much of his research efforts over the last 27 years on trying to better understand mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration, particularly as they are relevant to Alzheimer’s disease. He is recognized for his pioneering work aimed at uncovering the causes of Alzheimer’s disease and translating an understanding of its basic biology into potential therapies.

He was chair of Washington University’s Department of Neurology for 18 years, until stepping down recently to focus more heavily on research.  Together with Randall Bateman, MD, Dr. Holtzman co-founded C2N Diagnostics in 2007.  A year ago, the company made available the first blood test for patient care that detects the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain.

After earning Bachelor of Science and Medical Degrees from Northwestern University, Dr. Holtzman completed a neurology residency at University of California, San Francisco, where he also completed his post-doctoral research. He then moved to Washington University in 1994 as an assistant professor to start his own lab focused on researching the basic mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disease, particularly as these mechanisms may relate to Alzheimer’s disease.  

He has received numerous awards and honors including the Potamkin Prize and the MetLife Award (both for Alzheimer’s disease), the Watanabe Prize in Translational Research from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and the Carl and Gerty Cori Faculty Achievement Award from Washington University. He also has served as president of the American Neurological Association and was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Inventors.