Peter Snyder |
Deputy executive editor, Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association; University of Rhode Island vice president for research and economic development
1. You were recently named deputy executive editor of the Alzheimer’s & Dementia journal. How do you hope to influence the journal? The journal has always balanced what it publishes so that it is pushing the boundaries in fundamental science, clinical trials, in public health and preventative research, in policy debates and in pushing authors to advance important theoretical perspectives. My goal will be to continue to support this breadth of publications, but to also engage younger investigators and to highlight fresh ideas that may currently fall somewhat outside of mainstream thinking but may lead to the scientific and clinical breakthroughs that we all hope to see in our lifetimes.
2. You have worked with the journal since its launch in 2005. What changes have you noticed in the journal throughout this time? Over the past 19 or so years, the journal has risen to become the third-most-cited journal worldwide for any branch of clinical neurology, and it has become an exceedingly competitive journal to have articles accepted in for publication.
3. What are some of the new discoveries in the field over the past few years? We now have brain imaging and other approaches to detect disease burden much earlier, and well before clinical symptoms are evident. We know now that this disease starts several decades before a clinical diagnosis can be made, and that we must intervene far earlier in life if we want to slow progression and protect quality of life. We are on the cusp of having reliable blood-based tests that will be able to detect early disease.
4. As a URI researcher, what attracted you to the neuroscience field, and to studying Alzheimer’s and dementia? Alzheimer’s disease has been a fascinating area of specialization for me for two reasons. First, it is a highly complex condition that is very likely not a single, unitary disease. … The biology of this disease state is absolutely fascinating. Secondly, as our population ages worldwide, the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease is going to climb dramatically over the next few decades. The clock is ticking, and the urgency to develop effective therapies is on all of our minds.
5. What are current projects or areas of interest you are focused on? I have become very interested in developing inexpensive, noninvasive, point-of-care diagnostics and screening tools for identifying middle-aged adults who are at high risk for AD. One such approach is to track changes in the anatomy and physiology of the retina by imaging it with great precision during an eye exam.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Voghel@PBN.com.