History
The UCSF Memory and Aging Center is a major center for dementia care, research, and education in the world. In 23 years since its inception in 1998, the UCSF Memory and Aging Center has grown from 3 people to more than 300 scientists, researchers, healthcare providers, and staff.
Dr. Boxer joined the Memory and Aging Center in 2002 as a neurobehavior fellow; he started seeing patients and doing eye movement research to study attention and frontal lobe function. In 2005, he was asked to lead UCSF efforts for a clinical trial involving Bapineuzumab, the first anti-amyloid monoclonal antibody tested in humans for Alzheimer’s disease. This promising study inspired Dr. Boxer to build a clinical trials program for memory disorders at UCSF.
Since its inception, Dr. Boxer and his passionate, expert clinical trials team have designed a research program with patients and their families at the center. Together, they have run over 50 clinical trials and other research projects. The Boxer Lab has led global efforts to advance clinical trials for frontotemporal dementia and progressive supranuclear palsy, rarer diseases sometimes misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases.
More information about each of those projects is available here.
Our goal is to develop effective treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Frontotemporal Dementia and other related disorders. We take an innovative approach to clinical development of new therapies by focusing on rare, but well defined neurodegenerative diseases that may provide more efficient ways to understand common disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Neurodegenerative diseases are a major public health problem worldwide. We are applying lessons learned from the successful development of cancer therapies to our translational medicine program.
By maintaining close relationships with our basic science colleagues in academia and the companies that are developing the latest treatments, the Boxer Lab is at the cutting edge of new drugs and other interventions for neurodegenerative brain diseases.