Clemens Scherzer, MD
Neurogenomics Lab and Precision Neurology Program
Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women's Hospital

Clemens Scherzer is a physician-scientist and movement disorders specialist. He heads the Neurogenomics Lab of Harvard and Brigham and Women's Hospital and co-founded the Harvard Biomarkers Study of Brigham & Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center. He is Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and leads the Center for Advanced Parkinson Research.

Scherzer uses genetics and big data to develop a new, proactive and personalized medicine for Parkinson's disease. His interdisciplinary lab includes bioinformatics engineers, geneticists, biologists, and clinicians. Similar to how a search engine targets advertisements to a user based on massive search history, the lab's goal is to match drugs and tests to a patient based on a search of his entire biology. This transformative research is powered by the Harvard Biomarkers Study, with more than 2,500 participants one of the largest longitudinal biobanks for Parkinson's in the world. To understand how the human genome encodes human brain cells in health and disease, Scherzer is leading the BRAINCODE project funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. This initiative is establishing a Brain Cell encyclOpeDia of all transcribed Elements in specific types of human brain cells relevant to Parkinson and other brain diseases.

Scherzer completed his neurology residency at Emory University and received the Dr. Paul Beeson and the George C. Cotzias Memorial Awards. He served on the Parkinson Vision Setting Panel of the Department of Defense, and is on the Steering Committee of the NINDS Parkinson's Disease Biomarkers Program and the Scientific Advisory Board of the American Parkinson Disease Foundation. He serves on the Editorial Boards of Neurogenetics and Biomarkers in Medicine.

 

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