Dr. Paulson is the Lucile Groff Professor of Neurology for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders in the Department of Neurology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Paulson joined the UM faculty in 2007, and he currently directs the Michigan Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases (MiND) and co-directs the Protein Folding Diseases Initiative.
Dr. Paulson’s research and clinical interests concern the causes and treatment of age-related neurodegenerative diseases, with a focus on hereditary ataxias and Alzheimer’s disease. In 1997, his lab described abnormal protein aggregates in the so-called polyglutamine diseases, which now are recognized as a pathological hallmark in this important class of inherited diseases. Using test tube, cell-based, and animal models, he has contributed to advances in the understanding of various neurodegenerative diseases. His lab also has helped pioneer the use of RNA interference as a potential therapy for the many hereditary neurological disorders caused by “toxic” mutant genes.
Nationally, Dr. Paulson has directed popular courses at the American Academy of Neurology meetings, serves on the scientific advisory boards of numerous disease-related national organizations, and belongs to the Board of Scientific Counselors at the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health.
Among his awards, Dr. Paulson is an Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging, a semifinalist for the W.M. Keck Foundation Young Scholars in Medical Research, and a recipient of the Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar in Aging Award from the American Federation for Aging Research.