Richard H. Myers, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Richard H. Myers retired in 2020 and is now Emeritus Professor of Neurology at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. He is no longer accepting students or post-doctoral fellows.

Dr. Myers' professional interests focused upon the application of genetic research methods for the investigation of adult onset diseases with complex etiology (Parkinson’s disease, coronary heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, obesity, pulmonary function, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis etc.). Dr. Myers has had a long-standing interest in Huntington’s disease and has participated in a wide range of research investigations for this disease. He was a member of the New England Huntington’s disease "Center Without Walls" since its inception in 1980. His HD studies are best characterized as ‘Neurobiological Studies’ in that they include studies into the mechanisms of disease expression, including complex genetic modifier studies and a series of neuropathological studies of effects of disease expression in the brain. Additional interests include ethical issues influencing utilization of genetic test procedures.

Dr. Myers has been involved in a number of studies in positional cloning. He also participated in the cloning of the gene for Huntington’s disease in 1993. He initiated the genome scan project in the Framingham Study, and a genome scan in Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Myers' Parkinson’s disease genetic linkage study, known as the "GenePD" study, involved an international collaboration of twenty clinical centers in Parkinson’s disease. The study sought genetic loci involved in risk for PD. From 1993 he has participated in genetic linkage studies for hypertension (the HyperGEN study, one of the NHLBI Family Blood Pressure Program Project studies), and the genome scan in the NHLBI Family Heart Study.

Dr. Myers has published more than 300 peer reviewed articles, 38 individual NIH funded grants, and mentored many extraordinarily talented students and post-docs.

Publications

  • Published 6/1/2026

    Dayama G, Lee JR, Gupta S, Brion C, Connizzo BK, Labadorf AT, Myers RH, Lau NC. Transposable element small RNAs and large RNAs in aging brains and implications in Huntington's and Parkinson's disease. Genome Res. 2026 Jun 01; 36(6):1125-1140. PMID: 42209156.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/9/2025

    Genetic modifiers of somatic expansion and clinical phenotypes in Huntington's disease highlight shared and tissue-specific effects. Nat Genet. 2025 Jun; 57(6):1426-1436. PMID: 40490511.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 10/25/2024

    Dayama G, Gupta S, Connizzo BK, Labadorf AT, Myers RH, Lau NC. Transposable element small and long RNAs in aging brains and implications in Huntington's and Parkinson's disease. bioRxiv. 2024 Oct 25. PMID: 39484439.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/18/2024

    Lee JM, McLean ZL, Correia K, Shin JW, Lee S, Jang JH, Lee Y, Kim KH, Choi DE, Long JD, Lucente D, Seong IS, Pinto RM, Giordano JV, Mysore JS, Siciliano J, Elezi E, Ruliera J, Gillis T, Wheeler VC, MacDonald ME, Gusella JF, Gatseva A, Ciosi M, Lomeikaite V, Loay H, Monckton DG, Wills C, Massey TH, Jones L, Holmans P, Kwak S, Sampaio C, Orth M, Bernhard Landwehrmeyer G, Paulsen JS, Ray Dorsey E, Myers RH. Genetic modifiers of somatic expansion and clinical phenotypes in Huntington's disease reveal shared and tissue-specific effects. bioRxiv. 2024 Jun 18. PMID: 38948755.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/7/2024

    Nazeen S, Wang X, Zielinski D, Lam I, Hallacli E, Xu P, Ethier E, Strom R, Zanella CA, Nithianandam V, Ritter D, Henderson A, Saurat N, Afroz J, Nutter-Upham A, Benyamini H, Copty J, Ravishankar S, Morrow A, Mitchel J, Neavin D, Gupta R, Farbehi N, Grundman J, Myers RH, Scherzer CR, Trojanowski JQ, Van Deerlin VM, Cooper AA, Lee EB, Erlich Y, Lindquist S, Peng J, Geschwind DH, Powell J, Studer L, Feany MB, Sunyaev SR, Khurana V. Deep sequencing of proteotoxicity modifier genes uncovers a Presenilin-2/beta-amyloid-actin genetic risk module shared among alpha-synucleinopathies. bioRxiv. 2024 Mar 07. PMID: 38496508.

    Read at: PubMed

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Websites

Education

  • Georgia State University, PhD
  • Georgia State University, MA
  • Georgia State University, MEd
  • University of Kansas, BA

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