Michael Rafii

Michael Rafii is the Medical Director of the Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute and Professor of Neurology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Dr. Rafii leads a team comprised of physician medical monitors, clinical monitors, and medical safety specialists to provide safety oversight to all ongoing clinical trials. He is also a physician-scientist whose own research program focuses on understanding the genetic form of Alzheimer's disease that occurs in persons with Down syndrome.

He is the Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium - Down Syndrome (ACTC-DS). He is also the editor of the textbook "Common Pathogenic Mechanisms between Down Syndrome and Alzheimer's Disease: Steps toward Therapy" and serves as a scientific reviewer for the NIH and the Alzheimer's Association. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio (NPR).

Previously, Dr. Rafii served as Medical Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study, Director of the Memory Disorders Clinic, Founding Director of the Adult Down Syndrome Clinic, Director of the Comprehensive Alzheimer’s Program, and Director of the Adult Neurology Residency Training program at the University of California, San Diego.

He received his MD and PhD degrees from Brown University and conducted neurogenetics research at Harvard Medical School. He completed his Neurology residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and fellowship in Neurodegenerative diseases at the University of California, San Diego.