At Florida Brain Symposium, Alzheimer’s patient gives researchers new perspective
Aug 01, 2014
Perhaps the most talked-about presenter at the recent Florida Brain Project Symposium was not a brain researcher at all, but a Tallahassee patient.
The keynote speaker was Sandy Halperin — a retired assistant professor at Harvard’s dental school who, since being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease four years ago, has become a national advocate for accelerated research on dementia. He alternately praised the researchers for their work, pounded the lectern out of frustration with a slow-moving Congress and, as if to remind his audience of the enemy they’re pursuing, apologized occasionally for losing his train of thought.