Ana Maria Cuervo is the Robert and Renee Belfer Chair for the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Professor in the Departments of Developmental and Molecular Biology and of Medicine of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Co-Director of the Einstein Institute for Aging Studies. She obtained her MD degree and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Valencia (Spain) in 1990 and 1994, respectively, and received postdoctoral training at Tufts University, Boston. In 2002, she started her laboratory at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she continues her studies in the role of protein-degradation in neurodegenerative diseases and aging.
Dr. Cuervo’s group is interested in understanding how altered proteins can be eliminated from the cells through the lysosomal system (autophagy) and how malfunction of autophagy in aging is linked to age-related disorders including neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases.
Dr. Cuervo has been the recipient of prestigious awards such as the P. Benson Award in Cell Biology, the Keith Porter Fellow in Cell Biology, the Nathan Shock Memorial Lecture Award, the Vincent Cristofalo Rising Start in Aging Award, the Bennett J. Cohen award in basic aging biology, the Marshall Horwitz Prize for excellence in research and the Saul Korey Prize in Translational in Medicine Science. She has also twice received the LaDonne Schulman Teaching Award. Dr. Cuervo has delivered the Robert R. Konh Memorial Lecture, the NIH Director’s Lecture, the Roy Walford Endowed Lecture, the Feodor Lynen Lecture, the Margaret Pittman Lecture, the IUBMB Award Lecture, the David H. Murdoxk Lecture, the Gerry Aurbach Plenary Lecture, the SEBBM L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science, and the Harvey Lecture. She is currently co-Editor-in-Chief of Aging Cell and associate editor of Autophagy. Dr. Cuervo has served at the NIA Scientific Council and is currently member of the NIH Council of Councils.