Dr. Andrew Lieberman, MD, Ph.D
Bio
Andrew Lieberman, MD, Ph.D, is the Gerald Abrams Collegiate Professor and director of neuropathology at the University of Michigan Medical School. He received his BS from Duke University and his MD, PhD from the University of Maryland Medical School. He completed residency and fellowship training at the University of Pennsylvania and his postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH. His laboratory studies both Kennedy’s disease and Niemann-Pick type C disease, a neurodegenerative lysosomal disorder.
Sokol V. Todi, Ph.D, is Professor of Pharmacology and Neurology at Wayne State University School of Medicine and Chair of Pharmacology, where he leads a multidisciplinary program on protein quality control, deubiquitinating enzymes, and polyglutamine neurodegeneration. His laboratory integrates biochemistry, cell biology, and Drosophila genetics to uncover mechanisms of neuronal resilience. A major current focus is spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), where his team defines how misfolded androgen receptor drives disease and identifies therapeutic strategies.
Sami Barmada, received his Ph.D. in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University in St. Louis, and completed his neurology residency and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Barmada moved to the University of Michigan as an Assistant Professor of Neurology in 2013, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020, became Director of the University of Michigan Brain Bank in 2021, and an Associate Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program at UM in 2024. Combining basic biology with translational research and technology development, his research centers on critical abnormalities in RNA and protein metabolism in neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Dr. Barmada serves on the scientific advisory board of the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research, the NEALS consortium, the Live Like Lou Foundation, Eikonizo Therapeutics, Synapticure, and Ninesquare
