Michael S. Rafii is a board-certified neurologist, Medical Director of the Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute (ATRI) and Professor of Clinical Neurology at the Keck School of Medicine. He obtained his MD and PhD degrees from Brown University and conducted neurogenetics research at Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency in Neurology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and fellowship in Neurodegenerative diseases at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Rafii is a physician-scientist whose research focuses on developing new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) including a genetic form of AD that occurs in people with Down syndrome (DS). He is Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium - Down Syndrome (ACTC-DS), an international network of over 20 academic research sites.

Dr. Rafii also serves as director of the Medical Safety Unit of the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC) where he and his team of 45 physician medical monitors and clinical monitors provide oversight to the safety and conduct of ACTC’s entire portfolio of clinical trials. He is also co-director of the Clinical core of the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) and co-Principal Investigator of the Alzheimer’s Network for Treatment and Diagnostics (ALZ-NET). Dr. Rafii is a scientific reviewer for the NIH and the Alzheimer's Association. He is author of two of the most widely used review books in neurology: ‘First Aid for the Neurology Boards’ and ‘First Aid for the Neurology Clerkship.’ His work has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio (NPR).

Previously, Dr. Rafii served as Medical Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study, Director of the Memory Disorders Clinic, Founding Director of the Adult Down Syndrome Clinic, Director of the Comprehensive Alzheimer’s Program, Director of the Adult Neurology Residency Training program, Attending Neurologist and Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Diego.