The Lefler Symposium

Every year, the entire Harvard neuroscience community gathers to celebrate the achievements of the Lefler Center. The annual symposium provides an overview of the work that Lefler fellows and faculty have accomplished in the previous year. The Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Symposium is held at Harvard Medical School to showcase advances in the study of neurodegeneration and neurodevelopment, and to provide an opportunity for formal and informal discussion among faculty, fellows, and students.

The Symposium concludes with a keynote address delivered by an invited speaker. This address is a prestigious lectureship which includes a retrospective on a particular subject field. The roster of distinguished lecturers is set forth below.

Previous Keynote Speakers

2023 Liqun Luo, PhD
Stanford University

2022 Emery Brown, MD, PhD
MIT/Mass. General Hospital/Harvard Medical School

2019 Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, PhD
Senior Group Leader, Janelia Research Campus

2018 Thomas Südhof, MD
Stanford University School of Medicine

2017 Constance Cepko, PhD 
Harvard Medical School

2016 Richard W. Tsien, PhD
NYU Neuroscience Institute

2015 Krishna V. Shenoy, PhD
Stanford University

2014 Ben Barres, PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine

2013 Jeremy Nathans, MD, PhD
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

2012 David Ginty, PhD
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

2011 Roberto Malinow, MD, PhD
UCSD

2010 Fred H. Gage, PhD
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies

2009 Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, MD, PhD
UCSD

2008 Mark F. Bear, PhD
MIT

2007 Eric Nestler, MD, PhD
UT Southwestern Medical Center

2006 10th Anniversary Celebration Symposium

Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, PhD
UCSF

Christopher E. Henderson, PhD
Columbia University

Susan McConnell, PhD
Stanford University

Dennis Selkoe, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Gerald Fishbach, MD
Columbia University

2005 Susan Lindquist, PhD
MIT

2004 Robert H. Brown, Jr., MD, PhD
Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital

2003 H. Robert Horvitz, PhD
MIT

2002 Lawrence S.B. Goldstein, PhD
UCSD

2001 Huda Y. Zoghbi, MD
Baylor College of Medicine

2000 Allison Doupe, MD, PhD
UCSF

1999 Kenneth H. Fishbeck, MD
National Institutes of Health

1998 Stanley J. Korsmeyer, MD
Harvard Medical School/Dana Farber Cancer Institute