{"id":145894,"date":"2026-08-03T11:46:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=145894"},"modified":"2026-08-03T11:47:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:47:22","slug":"lindsay-farrer-phd-receives-zenith-fellows-award","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/news-events\/articles\/2026\/lindsay-farrer-phd-receives-zenith-fellows-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Lindsay Farrer, PhD, Receives Zenith Fellows Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Photo by Tanja Tepavac<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAwards & Honors<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Lindsay Farrer, PhD, <\/strong><\/strong>
Receives<\/strong> Zenith Fellows Award<\/strong> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Zenith Fellows Awards are among the most prestigious in Alzheimer’s research worldwide. <\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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August 3, 2026<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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Lindsay A. Farrer<\/a>, PhD, chief of biomedical genetics at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has been selected as the recipient of a 3-year, $450,000 Zenith Fellows Award<\/a> from the Alzheimer\u2019s Association for his project, \u201cGenes to AD Therapy: A Roadmap for Personalized Medicine.\u201d Zenith Fellows Awards are among the most prestigious in Alzheimer’s research worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of this Zenith Fellows Award is to identify genetic factors and mechanisms of action that influence risk of Alzheimer\u2019s disease (AD), with a focus in African Americans, to develop novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Farrer will leverage rich AD-related data obtained from >42,000 African Americans assembled by multiple studies across the US to identify AD-associated genetic variants and their interaction with known environmental risk factors and then extend these findings to other ancestry groups. This project will also generate and analyze genetic variant, RNA sequence, and DNA modification (methylation) data in tissue from more than 325 African American brain donors to discover novel genetic mechanisms and biomarkers for AD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lindsay Farrer, PhD<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In collaboration with other laboratories in the U.S. and internationally, Farrer and his group have identified genes causing a variety of rare and common disorders, most notably AD, substance use disorders, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Wilson disease, Machado-Joseph disease, Waardenburg syndrome, hypertension, sensorineural deafness and osteoarthritis. His group identified a functional genetic variant in the complement factor H gene which accounts for more than 30% of the attributable risk for AMD, the leading cause of progressive vision loss and blindness in the elderly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farrer co-directed the international effort which demonstrated that SORL1<\/em> is genetically and functionally associated with AD, thus implicating intracellular protein trafficking as an integral pathway in AD. His laboratory identified rare AD causal mutations in the AKAP9<\/em> gene which are specific to African Americans and subsequently conducted functional genetic and cell-based studies that demonstrated the likely mechanism of action involves altering tau, one of the hallmark proteins enriched in brains of persons with AD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has served as the principal investigator (PI) for very large genetic epidemiological studies of AD for more than 35 years, including currently funded whole genome sequencing projects aimed at identifying novel genes for AD and AD-related traits in Koreans and Jews of Middle Eastern and North African ancestry, and a project focused on mechanisms underlying the effects of APOE<\/em>, the strongest genetic risk factor for AD. <\/strong>He is also the PI of the Framingham Heart Study Brain Aging Program<\/a> which continues surveillance for dementia, performs cognitive and MRI exams, and orchestrates the brain donor program and repository for the Framingham Heart Study<\/a>, as well as performs research related to risk, resilience, and inflammatory and vascular basis of AD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farrer serves on the executive committees of the national Alzheimer Disease Genetics Consortium and Alzheimer Disease Sequencing Project. Additionally, he is the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Distinguished Professor of Genetics and a professor of medicine, neurology, ophthalmology, epidemiology and biostatistics at BU\u2019s medical school and School of Public Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Alzheimer\u2019s Association\u2019s Zenith Fellows recognize the world\u2019s most influential and impactful researchers in our field,\u201d said Heather M. Snyder, PhD, Alzheimer\u2019s Association senior vice president of medical and scientific relations. \u201cWe are proud to support Dr. Farrer\u2019s work as he is a leader in advancing our understanding of genetic risk for Alzheimer\u2019s disease. This new work will enable a deeper understanding of new genetic pathways to inform future treatments to benefit all people at risk for or living with Alzheimer\u2019s disease and other forms of dementia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farrer is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, received his PhD from the Indiana University School of Medicine and gained additional training in genetic epidemiology at Yale University. He holds an adjunct faculty position at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Bedford, Massachusetts and is a founding fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Zenith Fellows Awards are among the most prestigious worldwide for Alzheimer’s and dementia science. Thanks to the exceptional commitment and funding support of Zenith Society members, the program has provided nearly $50 million in awards to 155 leading Alzheimer\u2019s researchers in nine countries since 1991. Zenith Fellows have collectively generated more than 43,000 peer-reviewed publications. Eight Zenith Fellows were recognized among “The World’s most Influential Scientific Minds” by Thomson Reuters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lindsay A. Farrer, PhD, chief of biomedical genetics at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has been selected as the recipient of a 3-year, $450,000 Zenith Fellows Award from the Alzheimer\u2019s Association for his project, \u201cGenes to AD Therapy: A Roadmap for Personalized Medicine.\u201d Zenith Fellows Awards are among the most prestigious in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":145895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"Awards & Honors","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[105,356],"bu-publication":[367],"medicine-article-category":[],"medicine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[378],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/145894"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145894"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/145894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145901,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/145894\/revisions\/145901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145894"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=145894"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-article-category?post=145894"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-topic?post=145894"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=145894"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=145894"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=145894"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=145894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}