Rebecca Edelmayer, PhD

Dr. Edelmayer leads efforts to accelerate the scientific agenda of the Alzheimer’s Association through the creation and delivery of ongoing research education. She engages with more than 75 Alzheimer’s Association chapters across the country, ensuring that staff and the public are aware of the importance of medical research and the Association’s crucial role in advancing research to improve the lives of individuals living with dementia and their care partners. In addition, Dr. Edelmayer manages initiatives uniting researchers and clinicians with leaders of industry, regulatory agencies and the government on topics related to blood-based biomarker testing, use of digital health technologies and biotech approaches in studying dementia.

Dr. Edelmayer has over 17 years of experience as a practicing scientist and educator. She spent more than six years as a pharmacologist in the Neuroscience and Immunology Discovery Divisions at Abbott and AbbVie, where she was recognized as an emerging scientific leader. As a senior scientist, she led a digital pathology team, conducted research and supported the development of clinical therapeutics in chronic inflammatory diseases of the nervous system and the skin. Dr. Edelmayer has lectured, published and led collaborations in areas of neurophysiology, inflammatory skin pathology and pain neurobiology.

She completed her Ph.D. and postdoctoral training in medical pharmacology with a focus on neuropharmacology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Dr. Edelmayer holds a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh, where she also completed a National Institute of Mental Health Research Fellowship.