Paul S. Aisen

Paul Stephen Aisen is an American physician and Alzheimer's disease researcher who is the founding director of the University of Southern California Alzheimer's Therapeutic Research Institute (ATRI). Since the 1990s, Aisen has been a leading figure in Alzheimer's disease research, developing novel methodologies and directing large-scale clinical trials to develop groundbreaking medications. Research that he co-authored led to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of some of the first Alzheimer's disease-modifying drugs. Aisen serves as the Epstein Alzheimer's disease director's chair and a professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. After Thal died in 2007, Aisen as asked to serve as Director of the ADCS at UCSD, where he was also a professor in the Department of Neurosciences.

Career In 2015, Aisen founded ATRI, the San Diego-based satellite of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Aisen and his team at ATRI rigorously study new compounds that could be used to prevent the advancement of Alzheimer's disease-related brain damage and eventually offer prevention strategies for asymptomatic people. They also work on a variety of treatments for those experiencing symptoms.

After Aisen left UCSD for USC in 2015, the two universities ended up in court over the question of which would house the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study. At the time, the study involved six ongoing clinical trials and extensive data. Some aspects of data management were temporarily settled in 2016. A final settlement was reached in 2019, with USC agreeing to pay UCSD $50 million and make a public statement that is actions "did not align with the standards of ethics and integrity which USC expects of all its faculty, administrators, and staff."

In addition to managing the ACTC, Aisen and his team at ATRI coordinate the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a longitudinal observational study of Alzheimer's disease. ADNI is widely regarded to have pioneered real-time sharing of scientific data, an approach that has resulted in over 2,800 publications.

To further patient safety and the development of effective therapeutics, Aisen has served as a consultant, advisor or contributor for pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly, Janssen, and Eisai, as well as smaller biotech companies exploring alternative approaches to AD like Anavex Life Sciences, Proclara, CohBar, and NeuroPhage, as well as nonprofits like ACT-AD. He is a principal investigator in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.

Recognitions and honors Aisen is recognized as one of the world's top-ranked experts in Alzheimer's disease. He has an h-index of 149, according to Google Scholar. He has published more than 500 peer-reviewed papers and has been named to the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list every year since 2021.

Aisen was honored as the Alzheimer's Association San Diego/Imperial Chapter's 2024 Research Champion for his role as a "leading figure in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research for three decades, having developed novel methodologies and directed many large therapeutic trials."

Selected publications Sperling, R.A., Aisen, P.S., Beckett, L.A., Bennett, D.A., Craft, S., Fagan, A.M., …Phelps, C. H. (2011). Toward defining the preclinical stages of Alzheimer's disease: Recommendations from the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association workgroups on diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 7(3), 280–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2011.03.003 Jack, C.R. Jr., Knopman, D.S., Jagust, W.J., Shaw, L.M, Aisen, P.S., Weiner, M.W….Trojanowski, J.Q. (2010). Hypothetical model of dynamic biomarkers of the Alzheimer's pathological cascade. The Lancet, 9(1), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1474-4422(09)70299-6 Jack, C.R. Jr., Knopman, D.S., Jagust, W.J., Petersen, R.C., Weiner, M.W., Aisen, P.S.,…Trojanowski, J.Q. (2013). Tracking pathophysiological processes in Alzheimer's disease: an updated hypothetical model of dynamic biomarkers. The Lancet Neurology, 12(2), 207–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(12)70291-0