Clemens Scherzer

Clemens Scherzer, MD is the Stephen & Denise Adams Professor of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine, with secondary appointments as Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience. He serves as Director of the Stephen & Denise Adams Center for Parkinson's Disease Research, an inter-departmental incubator of precision medicine, and as Academic Chief of the Division of Movement Disorders. Scherzer also directs the Yale Harvard Biomarkers Study (YHBS), with 3,000 participants one of the largest longitudinal biobanks for Parkinson's disease in the world.

Scherzer is a pioneer in precision neurology, using massive data streams from genomes, transcriptomes, and longitudinal cohorts to predict and prevent Parkinson's disease progression. His research has led to the discovery of genetic drivers (e.g., GBA mutations in 10% of patients), biomarkers, and therapeutic mechanisms (e.g., beta2-adrenoreceptor pathway). His laboratory is creating the Parkinson DiscoveryEngine, a patient-centered discovery platform designed to identify precision targets, drugs, and biomarkers. Scherzer is currently mapping a $10 million Parkinson Cell Atlas in 5D (PD5D) using high-resolution spatial, multiome, sub-cellular, and single-cell genomics to decode how the human genome codes our brain cells in health and disease.

His research has revealed that as much as 64% of the genome is actively transcribed in brain cells, challenging the traditional focus on protein-coding regions (just 1.2% of the genome). Scherzer believes this massive, hidden RNA software underlies brain complexity and neuropsychiatric disease. For Alzheimer's disease, he made the seminal discovery of SORL1 gene activity changes, now widely recognized as a top Alzheimer's gene and 'Amyloid-beta traffic cop.'

Scherzer's work has been widely featured in Science, Scientific American, Washington Post, Boston Globe, US News & World Reports, and NOVA Next. His research has been recognized by Dr. Paul Beeson and George C. Cotzias Memorial Awards.

• Graduate of University of Vienna Medical School
• Completed neurology residency at Emory University
• Completed genomics & movement disorders specialty training at Harvard
• Founded Precision Neurology Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital

Scherzer is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the American Parkinson Disease Foundation and was nominated to the Vision Setting Panel of the U.S. Department of Defense Parkinson Program. He co-chaired the Technical Working Group for the Accelerating Medicines Partnership-PD, the flagship private-public partnership of the Foundation for the NIH and industry. Scherzer helped launch the three major biobanks for PD in the US, including the Michael J. Fox Foundation's PPMI and the NIH's PDBP, building infrastructure enabling precision medicine research.