David M. Holtzman, MD, the Barbara Burton and Reuben M. Morriss III Distinguished Professor in the Department of Neurology at WashU Medicine, was selected as a recipient of the Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health. The annual award was established in 2017 to recognize NINDS-funded investigators for their dedication to mentorship and training and is named in honor of Story Landis, PhD, a former director of the NINDS known for her unwavering and generous support of scientists.
In a career spanning over three decades, Holtzman has directly mentored more than 80 graduate students, physician-scientist trainees and postdoctoral fellows, as well as many early-career researchers, who have gone onto impactful careers in academia and industry. In addition to running an internationally recognized research program on Alzheimer’s disease mechanisms and treatment and developing novel blood tests for Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Holtzman also serves as director of the Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center and the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders at WashU Medicine. Despite extraordinary demands on his time, Holtzman is known for always prioritizing the training and mentoring of future scientists. In their letters of support, Holtzman’s mentees lauded his excellence as a role model for rigorous and innovative research and as a mentor who tailors his guidance to each mentee and provides continued support throughout their career. They particularly noted Holtzman’s policies of team science, open discourse, scientific precision and bold thinking as shaping their successful development into independent researchers.
Winners of the Landis Award are selected through a multi-stage nomination process that requires support from current and former mentees and is judged based on four key criteria: demonstration of scientific excellence and rigor, facilitation of mentee career progression, facilitation of mentee contributions to science and contribution to excellence in research training. Holtzman was one of five winners of the 2026 Landis Award. In addition to national recognition, the award winners’ institutions will receive a monetary prize of $100,000, to be used to further the development of future researchers. Holtzman is the second faculty member from WashU Medicine to win the Landis Award; Robert Gereau, PhD, the Dr. Seymour & Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology, won the award in 2020.
“Mentorship is fundamental to my life as a scientist,” Holtzman said. “There is no greater reward than knowing that I meaningfully impacted the lives of my mentees and assisted them in fulfilling their goals as a scientist and person.”