Suzanne de la Monte, M.D., M.P.H – Neuropathologist, Rhode Island Hospital and Associate Professor of Pathology and Medicine, Brown University

Suzanne de la Monte has had a major research interest in studying the roles of insulin and insulin like growth factors in relation to brain function since 1994.  Suzanne was probably the first to recognize the importance of insulin as a factor mediating the survival of neurons in the central nervous system, and the consequences of impaired insulin actions on brain development and function.  Her research led to the discoveries that the insulin gene is expressed in the brain, and that in Alzheimer’s disease, neurodegeneration is associated with brain insulin deficiency as well as brain insulin resistance.  The absence of associated Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, led to the term, “Type 3 Diabetes”, to reflect the selective brain insulin deficiency and insulin resistance in Alzheimer’s disease.  Suzanne’s research has also demonstrated a connection between brain insulin or insulin like growth factor resistance and other forms of neurodegeneration such as alcoholic brain disease.  These paradigm shifting concepts could lead to novel approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, and possibly other types of dementia.  Suzanne actively engages Brown Undergraduate and Medical Students in these dynamic research efforts.

Suzanne received both her B.A. and M.D. from Cornell University. She later received a Masters in Public Health (MPH) from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Suzanne did a residency in Anatomic Pathology at Johns Hopkins and a second residency in Neuropathology at Massachusetts General Hospital. She also did a postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular and Cell Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Suzanne was a member of the faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School until 2000; from 2000 to the present, Suzanne has been a member of the Faculty at Rhode Island Hospital and the Brown Medical School.