Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Huntington Potter is the CEO and Scientific Director of the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center & Research Institute and the Director of the designated Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center by the National Institutes of Health. He also holds the Eric Pfeiffer Endowed Chair for Research on Alzheimer's Disease at the Suncoast Gerontology Center and is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of South Florida College of Medicine and is an appointed Member of the Alzheimer's Disease Advisory Committee. Prior to joining USF in 1998, Dr. Potter studied, researched and taught for 30 years at Harvard University. He received his AB Cum Laude in Physics and Chemistry from Harvard College in 1972 and went on to earn his MA and PhD, also from Harvard, in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dr. Potter then spent 13 years as a scientist and teacher on the faculty of the Neurobiology Department at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Potter is credited with the discovery of the essential role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and has been investigating the relationship between classical Alzheimer's disease and Down syndrome, which invariably leads to Alzheimer's by age 30-40. He is author of over 90 scientific articles and books, the holder of 15 U.S. and foreign patents and sits on numerous scientific advisory and review committees in academia, industry and government. In 1996 Dr. Potter received the American Society for Cell Biology Glenn Foundation Award for "Outstanding Research in Aging", and in 2000 the Kaul Foundation Award for Excellence for "Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Neurobiology and Gerontology." His electron micrographs of DNA are on permanent exhibit in the National American History Museum of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.