Meet the 2025 Dash Prize Awardee
Dr. Andrew A. Pieper is a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Neurosciences, and Pathology at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). He holds the distinguished Rebecca E. Barchas M.D., D.L.F.A.P.A., University Professorship in Translational Psychiatry and the University Hospitals Morley-Mather Chair in Neuropsychiatry. Additionally, Dr. Pieper is Director of the Brain Health Medicines Center at the Harrington Discovery Institute of University Hospitals and Associate Director of the CWRU Medical Scientist Training Program.He maintains an active clinical practice through a weeklyGeriatric Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic at the Louis Stokes VA Medical Centerin Cleveland.
Dr. Pieper earned bachelor’s degrees in biology and chemistryfrom Earlham College before completing his M.D. and Ph.D. (Neuroscience) at Johns Hopkins University. Under the mentorship of Solomon H. Snyder, his doctoral research focused on neuronal cell death. He subsequently completed his medical internship and psychiatry residency training at Johns HopkinsHospital, followed by a Biochemistry Fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSWMC). Prior to his current appointments, Dr. Pieper held faculty positions in Psychiatry and Biochemistry at UTSWMCand served asDirector of Translational Science in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.
An elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the American College of Psychiatrists, Dr. Pieper has garnered significant recognition for his contributions, including the CWRU John S. Diekhoff Award for Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring. He currently serves as an Associate Editor forNeurotherapeutics.
Dr. Pieper’s research has advanced the understanding of neurodegeneration in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Alzheimer’s disease, including pivotal insights into their mechanistic interplay. Among his landmark achievements is the first demonstration in preclinical models that chronic neurodegeneration can be halted at late stages post-TBI, with full restoration of neuropsychiatric function – a paradigm-shifting discovery in the field.