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Alberto Ascherio, MD, PhD - Scientific Advisory Board
Associate Professor
Department of Nutrition
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, Massachusetts

An Italian native, Dr. Alberto Ascherio graduated with honors from the medical school of the University of Milan in 1978. He trained in internal medicine in Italy, and from 1980 to 1988 he practiced medicine and public health in Latin America and Africa. He came to the United States in 1988 and obtained a doctoral degree in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in 1992. His research is now devoted to finding the causes of multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. Since 1997 he has directed the investigation of Parkinson's disease in two large cohorts comprising over 150,000 men and women who have provided detailed information on their dietary habits and lifestyle in addition to blood or cheek cell samples for genetic and other laboratory analyses. Originally designed to investigate the causes of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, these cohorts have become a unique source of data for the prospective investigation of Parkinson's disease. Among the most recent findings from these studies are the existence of an interaction between consumption of caffeine and use of postmenopausal hormones, an increased risk of Parkinson's disease among men with symptoms of phobic anxiety, and a lower risk of Parkinson's disease among individuals who regularly use nonsteroidal antinflammatory drugs.

Dr. Ascherio is currently associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, and associate professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School.