Professor Mark A. Smith

Mark A. Smith, Ph.D. is Professor of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University; Executive Director, American Aging Association; and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
 
Mark earned his B.Sc. with Honors in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Hatfield College, Durham University, England (1986). He went on to earn a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Nottingham University, England, in 1990. He spent the next two years as a Research Fellow at Sandoz Forschungsinstitut in Vienna, Austria. Presently, he is Professor of Pathology at Case.
 
Mark is the recipient of several awards including the Ruth Salta Junior Investigator Achievement Award from the American Health Assistance Foundation, Young Scientist Lectureship Award from the International Society for Neurochemistry, the Nathan Shock New Investigator Award from The Gerontological Society of America, the Zenith Award from the Alzheimer’s Association, the Jordi Folch-Pi Award from the American Society of Neurochemistry, and the Hermann-Esterbauer Award from the HNE Society and is a fellow of the American Aging Association. He has also been recognized for his contributions to teaching with, among others, the Outstanding Mentor Award, School of Graduate Studies.
 
The focus of his research involves investigating the pathological mechanism(s) underlying selective neuronal death in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. His research involves a variety of techniques ranging from histological to molecular biology to cellular models and encompasses diagnostic, mechanistic, and therapeutic strategies. Current projects are directed towards 1) fundamental metabolic alterations; 2) homeostatic dysregulation of transition metals; 3) signal transduction alterations; and 4) inappropriate re-entry into the cell cycle.
 
Mark has authored over 600 peer-reviewed manuscripts and chapters and is recognized as one of the top cited researchers in the fields of Neuroscience & Behavior, Alzheimer Disease, and Free Radical Biology.
 
He coauthored Widespread Peroxynitrite-Mediated Damage in Alzheimer’s Disease, Cardioprotective Effect of Diazoxide and Its Interaction With Mitochondrial ATP-Sensitive K⁺ Channels, RNA Oxidation Is a Prominent Feature of Vulnerable Neurons in Alzheimer’s Disease, Mitochondrial Abnormalities in Alzheimer’s Disease, Evidence that the β-Amyloid Plaques of Alzheimer’s Disease Represent the Redox-silencing and Entombment of Aβ by Zinc, and Parkinson’s Disease Is Associated with Oxidative Damage to Cytoplasmic DNA and RNA in Substantia Nigra Neurons.