Dr. Maccarrone is Professor and Chair of Biochemistry at the Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila (Italy). He is also Head of the Lipid Neurochemistry Unit at the European Center for Brain Research - IRCCS Santa
Lucia Foundation, Rome.
For his research activity, he has received the 4th Royan International Research Award for Reproductive Biomedicine (2003), the 2007 IACM Award for Basic Research, the 2016 ICRS Mechoulam Award, and the 2020 Tu Youyou Award.
Dr. Maccarrone served as President of the International Cannabinoid Research Society in 2010-2011, Chair of the 2015 Gordon Research Conference on Cannabinoid Function in the CNS and is a founding member of the European Cannabinoid Research Alliance. Previous roles include visiting Professor at Leiden University (Leiden Institute of Chemistry, The Netherlands) in 2017, faculty member of The Lambert Center for the Study of Medicinal Cannabis and Hemp at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, since 2019, and visiting Professor at Cambridge University (Department of Psychology, U.K.) in 2019 as well as at National University of Rosario (Argentina) in 2021.
Dr. Maccarrone has authored more than 500 published papers and is a holder of 8 issued patents. He is listed among the Top Italian Scientists.
Dr. David Morgan is Director of the Alzheimer’s Alliance and MSU Foundation Professor of Translational Neuroscience at Michigan State University. Dr. Morgan’s research interests are Alzheimer’s disease, aging and brain function.
He is internationally recognized for his work on immunotherapy and gene therapy to treat the Alzheimer-related pathologies. Previously, he was CEO of the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute at the University of South Florida. While there, Dr. Morgan oversaw development of the Community-Based Memory Screening programs and the country’s first mobile clinical trial unit for Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Morgan received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northwestern University and spent 10 years at the University of Southern California before joining the University of South Florida in 1992. He has participated in over 90 grant-years of NIH funded research and published over 200 research articles. Dr. Morgan regularly sits on grant review panels for NIH and other agencies. In addition to his research activities, he has consulted with both major pharmaceutical and small biotechnology companies and also advised capital investment organizations regarding the most promising therapeutic approaches to curing Alzheimer’s disease. He has also advocated nationally for additional Alzheimer’s research funding through his role at Researchers Against Alzheimer’s and with the Alzheimer’s Association.
