Joel Saydoff, Ph.D.

Dr. Joel Saydoff joined NINDS in 2014. Dr. Saydoff serves as a Scientific Review Officer (SRO) for NSD-B panel that reviews NINDS translational programs including IGNITE and CREATE which involve small molecule and biological approaches, as well as Biomarker Discovery and Validation proposals, in disease areas including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, tauopathies, Huntington’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, inflammation, motor neuron diseases, lysosomal storage disorders, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Saydoff also leads the Blueprint for Neurotherapeutics Network (BPN) review that covers small molecule translational grants for neurological disorders in the mission of neuroscience institutes at the NIH that participate in the BPN. He has led reviews on numerous NINDS contracts and Brain Initiative projects. Dr. Saydoff received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin studying serotonergic regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in fluid balance and stress and was awarded an American Heart Association Fellowship. He completed postdoctoral training at DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals evaluating mechanism of action for a phase 3 drug for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and performed drug screening to identify compounds with improved activity. He worked at CytoTherapeutics on preclinical through phase 2 development of therapies for pain and neurodegenerative diseases. He was the Director of Neuroscience Research, then directed the broader Pharmacology & Physiology team at Wellstat Therapeutics leading translational work in AD, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, diabetes, mitochondrial disease and an antidote for chemotherapeutic drug overdose that was approved by the FDA. His expertise is in neurodegenerative diseases, cell and animal models of disease, behavior, pharmacology, therapeutic target validation, biomarkers and early stage proof of concept clinical trials.