Nasser H. Zawia was the Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Rhode Island and the inaugural director of the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program (INP), and played a founding role in the formation of the George and Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience. He was the Assistant Director of the Rhode Island Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network, the first of its kind in the State with eight participating Universities. His research has focused on environmental risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and discovering new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. He is a leader in the epigenetics of AD and his work has been featured by national and international media such ABC News, CBS, and CNN. He has identified potential therapies for the treatment of taupathies (FTD, PSP), and obtained orphan drug designation status by the FDA and the EMA for the study of one of these therapies.  His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Environmental protection Agency (EPA). He has chaired grant review sections and served on the editorial board of many journals and received many recognition awards.