Richard Cowburn has over 25 years’ experience of Alzheimer’s disease and Neurodegeneration research. Richard obtained his PhD at the University of London under the supervision of Sir John Hardy. He then spent seventeen years at the Karolinska Institutet where he led a research group looking at cellular signalling and the neurochemistry of Alzheimer’s disease. Richard was recruited to AstraZeneca in 2006 where he was responsible for providing strategic direction to the Neurology project pipeline and for delivering novel targets and academic collaborations.

Richard is back now at the Karolinska Institutet where he heads the External Engagement office with responsibility for identifying and facilitating academic–industry collaborations and for enabling researchers to commercialize novel findings.

During his academic career, Richard has authored over 130 papers in peer-reviewed journals, plus 30 articles as book chapters and letters. He has supervised 16 PhD students and acted as expert reviewer for over ~15 international journals and 8 major grant awarding bodies.