Professor Franklin Aigbirhio

Biography

Professor St. George-Hyslop's research focuses upon understanding the causes and molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease and fronto-temporal dementia. His research team employ genetic, molecular biological, cell biological, and animal modelling strategies to: 1) identify disease-causing genes; and 2) identify the molecular pathways by which these mutations or polymorphisms lead to neuronal death. Educated at Wellington School, Wellington, Somerset, UK, Professor St. George-Hyslop completed his medical training in Canada, graduating with an M.D. in 1976 and then pursuing post-doctoral research in internal medicine and neurology at the University of Toronto and Harvard Medical School. He served his first appointment at Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital, where he taught molecular genetics and neurology from 1987 to 1991. He was appointed to the University of Toronto in 1991 and since 2003, has held the university's highest rank of University Professor. Since 1995, he has served as the director of the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. In 2007, Professor St. George-Hyslop was appointed Professor of Experimental Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. Professor St. George-Hyslop was awarded the Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Scholar Award in 1997 and 2002, the Gold Medal in Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in 1994 and the Michael Smith Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in 1997. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, a fellow of the Royal Society of London and the Royal Society of Canada, and a Foreign Member to the National Academy of Medicine of the US National Academies of Science.  

Research Interest

medicine