Two California Scholars Share the 2017 Potamkin Prize From the American Academy of Neurology

Two women scholars from different campuses of the University of California are sharing the 2017 Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick’s, Alzheimer’s & Related Diseases from the American Academy of Neurology. The award, which comes with a $100,000 prize, is often referred to as the Nobel Prize in Alzheimer’s research.

Claudia H. Kawas is a professor of neurobiology and behavior in the School of Biological Sciences and a professor of neurology in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. She is being honored for her research relating to dementia of people in the 90s. Dr. Kawas is a graduate of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. She earned her medical degree at the University of Louisville in Kentucky and completed neurology residency training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York. Before joining the faculty at the University of California, Irvine in 2000, she taught for 15 years at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Kristine Yaffe holds the Roy and Marie Scola Endowed Chair and is a professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Professor Yaffe’s work focuses on the identification of modifiable risk factors, including cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors, sleep disturbances, and traumatic brain injury. Dr. Yaffe is a graduate of Yale University, where she majored in biology and psychology. She earned her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and completed her residency in neurology and psychology at the University of California, San Francisco.