Richard O'Brien, MD, PhD
Duke University
Dr. Richard J. O’Brien is the Disque Deane University Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurology at Duke. Dr. O’Brien received his undergraduate degree, MD and PhD at Harvard University. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a residency in neurology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was Professor of Neurology, Neurobiology and Medicine at Johns Hopkins and was Chairman of the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and Associate Dean for Research at Johns Hopkins before going to Duke to be the inaugural chair of the Department of Neurology. Dr O’Brien has made significant contributions to the understanding of the biology of glutamate receptors at excitatory synapses in the brain and, more recently, to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease.