Michael Weiner

Michael Weiner, MD is a Professor in Residence in Radiology and Biomedical Engineering, Medicine, Psychiatry, and Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. He is Principal Investigator of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a 14-year national longitudinal study of over 1500 subjects which is aimed at validating biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, and served as the Director of the Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIND) at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center for nearly 10 years. Over the past 25 years, Dr. Weiner has worked to develop and optimize the use of MRI, PET, and blood-based biomarker methods to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Dr. Weiner's research focuses on monitoring effects of treatment to slow progressions in Alzheimer's disease and the early detection of Alzheimer's disease in patients. He launched BrainHealthRegistry.org, an internet based registry with the overall goal of accelerating development of effective treatments for brain diseases. This website registry recruits, screens, and longitudinally monitors brain function of more than 60,000 participants. Recently, he has focused on developing inexpensive, scalable tools to identify normal elders at risk for cognitive decline and dementia, and to provide the Brain Health Registry software to facilitate the work of other investigators.

Dr. Weiner has mentored over 120 postdoctoral fellows, has authored 821 peer reviewed research papers and 62 book chapters, and holds 19 separate research grants. He has received numerous honors including the Middleton Award for outstanding research in the Veterans Administration, the Nancy and Ronald Reagan Award for research from the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Potemkin Award for research in Picks Disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders from the American Association of Neurology and the American Brain Foundation.