Young investigator award recipient.

Dr. Zhongcong Xie started his research career in 1989 with graduate studies in behavioral pharmacology at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.He moved to Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts in 1994 as a postdoctoral research fellow in both human and animal behavioral research. After years of research training, he returned to the clinical arena in 1997 as an Anesthesiology resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. After completing anesthesia residency training, he decided to become a physician-scientist and continue his research in neuroscience. He joined the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School supervised by Dr. Rudolph Tanzi in the year 2000 to study Alzheimer's disease. His research on the neuropathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease has focused primarily on the molecular mechanisms underlying beta-amyloid precursor protein processing and beta-amyloid protein production, especially regarding regulation of the gamma-secretase complex.Additionally, his work has addressed the role of presenilin-related apoptosis in Alzheimer's disease.