People

Michael Rafii, MD, PhD

University of Southern California Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute (USC ATRI)

Michael Rafii is a board-certified neurologist and Professor of Neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). He is also Medical Director of the Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute (ATRI) and the NIH-funded Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial Consortium (ACTC) where he oversees safety across all clinical trials. He received his MD and PhD degrees from Brown University School of Medicine and conducted neurogenetics research at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Rafii completed his Neurology residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital where he also served as chief resident. He then completed a fellowship in dementia at UC San Diego.

Dr. Rafii’s research focuses on the design and conduct of multi-center clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease including a genetic form of AD which occurs in Down syndrome. He is principal investigator of the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial Consortium - Down syndrome network (ACTC-DSN). Dr. Rafii is co-editor of the textbook 'Common Pathogenic Mechanisms between Down Syndrome and Alzheimer's Disease: Steps toward Therapy.’ He is a scientific reviewer for the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer's Association. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal and on National Public Radio (NPR).