CMSS is proud to introduce the Vice Chair of our Board, John F. Disterhoft, PhD. John is Magerstadt Research Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Throughout his career, John has focused on research and explored aging, Alzheimer’s Disease, biophysics, neurophysiology, and more. He has also served as a teacher and mentor to future neuroscientists. John was first a member of the SASI Board of Directors and joined the CMSS Board when SASI became part of CMSS’ continuum of care.
John brings amazing experience and expertise to the CMSS Board. Having researched aging and Alzheimer’s disease, he brings valuable insight into understanding how to best care for and serve older adults and individuals living with memory loss. John received his PhD from Fordham University and did postdoctoral training at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the MERIT Award from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) for two consecutive ten-year award cycles. We are so grateful for John’s leadership and depth of knowledge in the field of aging and memory loss.
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Q: Before you joined the CMSS Board, you served on the SASI Board of Directors. Can you tell us when and how you first came to work with SASI and what initially interested you about the organization?
Ellen Browne, a close friend of my wife Josie and me, started SASI more than 45 years ago. She knew of my professional and personal interest in aging issues and care for our community’s aging members. Ellen asked me to join the SASI Board. I served on various committees and eventually became Chair of the SASI Board of Directors, the position I had when SASI became part of CMSS.
Q: Your academic and professional background in neuroscience and research around aging and Alzheimer’s makes you especially knowledgeable as a leader in the field of aging. What is a common misconception that people have about aging and our aging brains?
The most common misconception is that cognitive decline is an inevitable consequence of aging. This is not true, both in aging humans and experimental animals. My research focused on why and how some individuals remain cognitively intact as they age. We all wish to be “super-agers,” and how we can make that most probable remains of great interest to me.
Q: Your career has focused not only on research, but on training and mentoring the next generation of neuroscientists. Can you share a little about how working with the next generation has been for you?
My initial teaching responsibilities primarily involved teaching anatomy and neuroscience to medical and dental students. I enjoyed the challenge of communicating relevant portions of neuroscience to these professionals in training. Although they did not intend to pursue neuroscience as a career, I knew that they could use information about neuroscience in their daily work treating patients. I still receive most of my medical care at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. It is very affirming to be treated by several of my former students who say kind things about the positive role I played for them in medical school.
Many undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows have done their research training in my laboratory. I am very proud that many of them continue to pursue the work that we began together in their own laboratories in academic institutions throughout the country and worldwide, as well as in government and pharmaceutical research laboratories and in not-for-profit institutions. Two of my trainees that I could mention are Dr. Maria Carillo, chief science officer and medical affairs lead of the Alzheimer’s Association. Dr. Carillo and her colleagues at the National Institute of Aging (NIA) have collaborated to significantly and markedly increase critically needed funding for Alzheimer’s Disease research by the NIA. A second former graduate student was Dr. Catherine Kaczorowski, Elinor Levine Professor of Neuroscience at The University of Michigan. Dr. Kaczorowski is pioneering techniques to identify and validate genetic and cellular mechanisms that promote resilience to cognitive aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and other age-related dementias using both preclinical animal models and human studies. Maria and Catherine are just two of the many trainees I have had the privilege to work with during my career at Northwestern University.
Q: From the start of your career to now, what have been the biggest changes in the field of neuroscience?
My PhD is in Psychology, more specifically, physiological psychology. I was trained before neuroscience was the dominant field that it is today. The biggest change in neuroscience during my career has been its rapid growth as a field. As part of this growth, we now know much more about learning mechanisms and how aging affects cognitive abilities such as learning. Importantly, those insights are now being used to design treatments for numerous clinical situations, including deficits associated with normal aging and neurodegenerative diseases of aging.
Q: How has your academic and professional background informed your leadership on the CMSS Board?
My goal is to have CMSS deliver state-of-the-art interventions for aging and diseases of aging based on the latest neuroscience insights. As part of the continuing growth in CMSS programs, it will be important to continue to affirm community involvement in our programs.
Q: We greatly appreciate your leadership on our Board. Could you share which CMSS programs and initiatives you are most enthusiastic about and what you are eagerly anticipating for the organization?
I remain committed to helping SASI grow and thrive as a CMSS program. Supportive care that allows aging individuals to remain in their homes is a real need as our society continues to age. SASI is all about delivering this sort of care. Hartwell Place, which is focused on providing affordable care for those experiencing cognitive decline, is also of special interest to me. The experience of having friends who have great difficulty finding and affording such care indicates that this is also a real need in our society.
Q: We know no one is all business, all the time. How do you enjoy spending your free time?
I very much enjoy spending time outdoors. I particularly like playing golf, rowing, and working on various gardening and other outdoor projects around our home. Fortunately, our four grandchildren are also very much into outdoor activities, which my wife Josie and I enjoy with them. Finally, Josie and I enjoy having Yoga classes in our home twice weekly taught by an Iyengar Yoga instructor who we have taken classes from for many years.
