The Dr. Daniel I. Kaufer Lecture is an educational program that promotes and shares current Alzheimer's disease research. Prior to his death, Dr. Kaufer donated a gift to the UW Initiative to End Alzheimer’s (IEA) to establish an annual endowed lecture continuing his commitment to dementia care.
2026 Dr. Daniel I. Kaufer Lecture
Save the date!
Wednesday, October 28, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. CT — Free and open to everyone
On Zoom
Keynote Speaker — More details coming soon!
Halima Amjad, MD, MPH, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her career as a geriatrician and health services researcher focuses on dementia diagnosis and care, inspired by her family experience with her father’s frontotemporal dementia. She leads research on medical care challenges in dementia, including underdiagnosis, hospitalization, and improving primary care supports and comprehensive care for dementia. In addition to caring for patients at the Johns Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer’s Treatment Center, she supports research and implementation of the evidence-based Maximizing Independence at Home dementia care coordination program as the clinical co-director of MIND at Home and as medical co-director for the Johns Hopkins GUIDE program. She also serves on the Board of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration.
About Dr. Daniel I. Kaufer
Dr. Kaufer was a renowned neurologist specializing in frontotemporal dementia and Lewy body dementia at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Dr. Kaufer started his journey here at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He received a bachelor's degree in molecular biology and zoology in 1983 and a medical degree from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health in 1988. He has credited the University of Wisconsin with teaching him to think like a physician.
Dr. Kaufer went on to complete his residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and a fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a professor of neurology at UNC, founding director of the UNC Memory Disorders Program, chief of the Memory and Cognitive Disorders Division in the Department of Neurology, and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. Kaufer passed away on July 2, 2020, after receiving a sudden cancer diagnosis. He was 61. This annual lecture is just one way his legacy of inspiring new generations of medical professionals lives on.
Past Events
2025
"Lewy Body Dementia, Caregiving and Advocacy"
This event was held on October 28. Keynote speakers Angela M. Lunde, MA and Brother John-Richard Pagan, MS. Watch the recording:
2024
"What Matters Most: Drivers of Patient and Caregiver Experiences in Dementia with Lewy Bodies"
This virtual event was held on June 27, 2024.
Keynote speaker: Melissa Armstrong, MD, MSc, director, Health Mangurian Clinical-Research Headquarters for Lewy body Dementia, University of Florida
2023
"Agitation is not a disease: How can we better manage the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia?"
This virtual event was held on Zoom on June 6, 2023.
Keynote speaker: Helen C. Kales, MD, Joe P. Tupin Endowed Professor of Psychiatry, Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis
2022
"Regenerating the Alzheimer’s Brain: Allopregnanolone as a Regenerative Therapeutic Proof of Concept"
This virtual event was held on June 6, 2022, on Zoom. Watch the recording.
Keynote Speaker: Roberta Diaz Brinton, PhD, director, Center for Innovation in Brain Science, professor, Departments of Pharmacology and Neurology, College of Medicine, University of Arizona
Roberta Diaz Brinton, PhD, is an internationally recognized expert in Alzheimer’s disease with a particular focus on mechanisms underlying the increased risk of the disease in the female brain. For both women and men, she is developing the first regenerative therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease.
2021
"Diagnosis and Management of Dementia with Lewy Bodies"
This virtual event was held on June 1, 2021, on Zoom. Watch a recording.
Guest lecturer Bradley F. Boeve, MD, Mayo Clinic, presented the inaugural Dr. Daniel I. Kaufer Lecture. Dr. Boeve’s clinical and research interests include normal aging, neurodegenerative disorders that cause cognitive impairment or dementia, neurogenetics, prion disorders, and neurological sleep disorders.
