The Tapestry of Consciousness and the Self: Winning Over Alzheimer’s with Rudolph E. Tanzi

The Tapestry of Consciousness and the Self: Winning Over Alzheimer’s with Rudolph E. Tanzi

June 24, 2026 · 1h 41m · Season 4 · Episode 10

About this episode

Rudolph E. Tanzi discusses Alzheimer's disease, its pathologies, and advancements in treatment and brain health.

In this episode of See See by Ceci, Rudolph Tanzi, one of the world’s most influential neuroscientists, takes us inside the mind as it builds, and as it begins to come undone. Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit and co-director of the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, co-founder of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, and named by TIME one of the 100 most influential people in the world, Tanzi co-discovered the very first Alzheimer’s genes and helped create the groundbreaking “Alzheimer’s in a Dish” model that has transformed the search for a cure. In this luminous and deeply human conversation, Tanzi traces the disease from its first description by Alois Alzheimer in 1906 (the strange plaques and tangles no one believed could cause a mind to slip away), to the golden age of treatment now within reach. He walks us through the three pathologies of plaques, tangles and inflammation; the genes he discovered and the blood test that can now see the disease coming; the brain’s housekeeper cells, the microglia, and their Macbeth-like turn from caretakers to killers; and…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Cecilia Ponce Rivera

Guest: Rudolph E. Tanzi

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Organizations: Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cure Alzheimer’s Fund

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