Berislav Zlokovic, MD, PhD is the director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology & Neuroscience at the Keck School of Medicine, and Professor of Biology at Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Zlokovic studies the role of brain microcirculation, particularly the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in health and disease in the adult brain and during aging. Using animal models and studying human brain he has pioneered the neurovascular concept of Alzheimer’s disease, and showed that BBB breakdown can accumulate before neuronal and synaptic loss, and is an early biomarker of human cognitive dysfunction. He demonstrated that disrupted cross-talk between BBB-associated pericytes and brain capillary endothelial cells, and astrocytes and pericytes, within the neurovascular unit leads to neuronal dysfunction and loss, and that targeting these BBB pathways can reverse neurodegenerative process. He has identified genes and receptors at the BBB regulating levels of Alzheimer’s amyloid-beta toxin in the brain, which accumulates with aging and dementia. He has developed new techniques for studying neurovascular functions in animal models and the living human brain that have opened up new areas of research previously untouched. His findings contributed to Phase 2/3 trials for Alzheimer’s disease based on clearance, and stroke based on activated protein C pathway in the brain. Thomson Reuters and Clarivate Analytics listed Zlokovic as one of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” for ranking in top one percent of the most-cited authors in the field of neurosciences and behavioral sciences for 18 consecutive years (2002-2020). He received the MetLife Award for Medical Research, the Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology, the MERIT Award from NIA, the Javits Award from NINDS, and recently the 2019 USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship, “the highest honor the university faculty bestows on its members for distinguished intellectual achievements”. Zlokovic is a member of the AAAS and the European Academy of Sciences. He co-founded ZZ Biotech, a biotechnology company dedicated to developing new treatments for stroke and other CNS disorders.