He obtained his M.D./Ph.D. in 1976 from Tufts University in Boston. After a medicine internship at Mt. Auburn Hospital and Harvard Medical School, he began pathology/neuropathology training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and completed training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1980 where he was appointed assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine on 1/1/1981, and rose to the rank of tenured full professor in 1990. Dr. Trojanowski held or currently holds major leadership positions at the University of Pennsylvania including: Director of a National Institute of Aging Alzheimer's Disease Center, Principal Investigator of a NIA Program Project Grant on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, Director of Medical Pathology, Interim Director and Director of the Institute on Aging, Co-Director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center of Excellence, the first William Maul Measey–Truman G. Schnabel, Jr., M.D., Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology and Co-director of the Marian S. Ware Alzheimer Drug Discovery Program. For >15 years, Dr. Trojanowski has conducted research on AD, PD, motor neuron disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal lobar degeneration and other aging related nervous system disorders. Most of his >500 publications focus on the pathobiology of neurodegenerative disorders, especially the role of abnormal protein aggregates in these diseases. The major goal of his research now is to translate advances into understanding mechanisms of aging related neurodegenerative diseases into meaningful interventions to treat or prevent these disorders.
Awards
Dr. Trojanowski has received several awards for his research, some of which include:
The Mayo Clinic Irving S. Cooper Professorship, “New Understanding of Disease Progression and Therapy in Neurodegenerative Tauopathies”, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 21 August 2017
Alzheimer's Association Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer's Disease Research, AAIC Meeting, Chicago, IL, 24 July 2018
Service
Elected President of the American Association of Neuropathologists,
and has been or is on the editorial board of several neuroscience and pathology journals.
served and continues to serve on local and national aging research committees including the NIA Neuroscience, Behavior and Sociology of Aging Study Section
Program Committee of the World Alzheimer Congress 2000
Chair of the "Biology of Synuclein and Cortical Lewy Bodies Associated
with Dementia in AD, LBD, and PD" and “Genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease workshops organized by NIA and the National Institute on Neurological Diseases and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, and the Organizing Committee of the 6th , 7th and 8th International Conferences On Progress In Alzheimer’s And Parkinson’s Disease .
Films
To help the public understand what is needed to cure and/or prevent disorders like AD, Dr. Trojanowski led an effort to prepare two education films, “Shining a Light on Alzheimer’s Disease... through Research” and “Taking the Steps to Healthy Brain Aging”, on Alzheimer's disease and healthy brain aging funded by a grant from the Metropolitan Life Foundation Grant that air on PBS.
