Howard M. Fillit, MD, is the founding Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Aging, Inc., a private venture philanthropy based in New York City. The Institute's mission is to catalyze and fund research on drug discovery and drug development for cognitive aging and Alzheimer's disease. The Institute supports research nationally and internationally, in both academia and in the biotechnology industry. Dr Fillit is Clinical Professor of Geriatrics and Medicine and Professor of Neurobiology at the Mount Sinai-New York University Medical Center. In addition, he serves as consultant in gerontology and geriatric medicine to individuals, managed care organizations, healthcare systems, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology companies.

Dr Fillit earned his MD at the State University of New York Health Science Center at Syracuse College of Medicine. From 1976 to 1987, he received postgraduate training and held academic positions at the Rockefeller University and the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City. Dr Fillit has received numerous awards and honors, including the Rita Hayworth Award for lifetime achievement in research and practice in Alzheimer's disease from the Alzheimer's Association. He has published more than 200 scientific and clinical articles, abstracts, and books and is an editor of the leading international Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. He is also a fellow of the American Geriatrics Society, the American College of Physicians, and the Gerontological Society of America. He has served as a member or chairman of numerous national and international boards and panels pertaining to geriatric medicine and gerontology, managed care, and biotechnology.

Dr Fillit has disclosed the following relationships:

• Grants/Research Support: Janssen Pharmaceutica, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Pfizer Inc

• Speakers' Bureau: Pfizer Inc