George Bartzokis, MD, PhD
Dr. George Bartzokis was born in a Greek refugee camp in Romania and at the age of fourteen, he immigrated along with his family to Boston, MA. Once there, he taught himself English, worked his way through school, and eventually graduated from Harvard College. He then went on to earn his medical degree at the Yale University School of Medicine. George eventually settled in California where he was a tenured professor of psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.
Known for his passionate support of early-career scientists, he also had a reputation as a maverick scientist and as an early supporter of a significant role for white matter in AD. Dr. Bartzokis died of pancreatic cancer at the age of fifty-eight. By then, he had accumulated a long list of academic and personal accolades. Each year we award the George Bartzokis Travel Award to one CCAD attendee who exemplifies the spirit of George Bartzokis.