Jason Hassenstab, PhD, was installed as the Norman J. Stupp Professor of Neurology on Thursday, March 27, 2025. The ceremony was followed by remarks from John Morris, MS, and Jin-Moo Lee, MD, PhD, and an address from Hassenstab titled, “Boundaries and Crossing Borders in Alzheimer’s Disease Research.”
Hassenstab is a professor of Neurology and professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences at WashU Medicine.
He directs the Cognitive Technology Research Laboratory (CTRLab) and is the principal investigator of the Ambulatory Research in Cognition-Down Syndrome Study (ARC-DS), an international multisite study of Down syndrome associated Alzheimer’s disease. The CTRLab is focused on understanding cognitive changes in normal aging and neurodegenerative diseases. It develops technology to measure cognition outside of the laboratory or clinic, emphasizing the importance of assessing cognition in the everyday lives of participants.
Hassenstab also leads the Cognition Cores for the Dominantly-Inherited Alzheimer Network-Trials Unit (DIAN-TU) and the DIAN observational study and the Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
He completed a bachelor’s degree in Jazz and Contemporary Music Performance at New York University and a PhD in psychology under mentorship of Dr. Antonio Convit at New York University and Fordham University. He then completed a Fellowship at Brown University and joined the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis in 2010.
About Norman J. Stupp
In 1987 the Norman J. Stupp Foundation made a commitment to establish this professorship to further research in Alzheimer’s disease and related cognitive disorders in aging.
Norman J. Stupp and his wife, Marie Koenig Stupp, were St. Louis philanthropists especially committed to supporting education, health, and human services. They created the foundation in 1952. Stupp was particularly involved in the improvement of health care for the elderly after his father died in 1926 by what today is believed to be Alzheimer’s.
Stupp earned a degree in civil engineering from Washington University in 1921. He then joined the family business, Stupp Brothers Bridge and Iron Company, eventually becoming chairman of the board. He was active in professional and community activities and organizations, among them the Engineers’ Club of St. Louis and Masonic Lodge #360. He served on the boards of directors of Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, Tower Grove Bank and Bancshares, and Commerce Bank. His college fraternity, Kappa Sigma, named him Man of the Year for his “outstanding achievement in industry and service to the fraternity,” which he served as District Grand Master.
Washington University awarded him a Distinguished Alumni Award at Founders Day in 1955.
After Stupp’s death in 1979, the foundation established this professorship and several scholarship funds in his memory. Foundation contributions also have benefited Washington University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.