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Alison M Goate is the Samuel & Mae S Ludwig Professor of Genetics in Psychiatry, Professor of Genetics and Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis (MO, USA). Dr Goate studied for her undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of Bristol (UK) and received her graduate training at Oxford University (UK). She performed postdoctoral studies with Professor Theodore Puck, Professor Louis Lim and Dr John Hardy before receiving a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to support her independent research program at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. In 1991, Dr Goate and colleagues reported the first mutation linked to an inherited form of Alzheimer's disease, in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene on chromosome 21. The mutation was found to be linked to inherited cases of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. In 1992, Dr Goate moved to Washington University as an Associate Professor in Genetics and Psychiatry. Dr Goate and colleagues have since identified mutations in four other genes, including two that cause Alzheimer's disease and two that cause the related dementia frontotemporal dementia. In addition to her work on dementia, Dr Goate's laboratory also studies the genetics of alcohol and nicotine dependence. Dr Goate has received numerous awards including the Potamkin Award from the American Academy of Neurology, the Zenith Award from the Alzheimer's Association, the Senior Investigator Award from the Metropolitan Life Foundation, the St Louis Academy of Science Innovation Award and the Carl and Gerty Cori Faculty Achievement Award at Washington University. Dr Goate has been a member of many scientific Review Boards and currently serves on the Editorial Boards of several journals.