Elsa Shapiro, PhD Received the 2024 Roscoe O. Brady Award

Elsa Shapiro, PhD, retired in 2014 as Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology in the Division of Pediatric Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota, but remains on the faculty. Dr. Shapiro is now leading a consulting partnership assisting pharmaceutical companies and other research institutions in the development of protocols and endpoints for natural history and clinical trials in patients with rare diseases.  

Dr. Shapiro received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Minnesota and completed her internship and post-doctoral training at National Children’s Medical Center in Washington DC. She obtained an A.B.P.P from the American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology. Prior to coming to the University of Minnesota in 1974, she held academic appointments at George Washington University and the University of California, Davis.  

Dr. Shapiro founded and directed the Section of Pediatric Neuropsychology at the University of Minnesota, and started a well-recognized training program for post-doctoral fellows.  In this capacity, she also held faculty and teaching appointments in the Institute of Child Development and the Department of Psychology, and was a founding member of the Center for Neurobehavioral Development.   

Dr. Shapiro is known for research in neurobehavioral and neuroimaging manifestations of genetic neurodegenerative disorders. She developed methods of longitudinal assessment of neurocognitive functions, delineated the neurocognitive phenotypes of several genetic disorders, studied the relationships between quantitative neuroimaging and neuropsychology in treated and untreated children, and examined the characteristics of dementia in children with neurodegenerative diseases. She has more than 125 peer-reviewed publications and invited chapters. Recently, she was the co-Principal Investigator of the NIH-supported Lysosomal Disease Network, and Principal Investigator of Longitudinal Studies of Brain Structure and Function in the Mucopolysaccharidoses, until 2014. Her publications encompass neurocognitive, neurobehavioral, and neuroimaging profiles, development of new measures, natural history reports, and treatment effects in neurodegenerative disorders.

Congratulations to Dr. Shapiro from the entire WORLDSymposium audience! The 2024 Roscoe O. Brady Award was presented on Monday, February 5, at 7:30 AM PST, followed by a scientific presentation by Dr. Shapiro.