Our Team

Suzanne Schindler, MD, PhD, is a clinical neurologist and neuroscientist focused on improving the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer disease. She completed the MD/PhD program at Washington University, where she studied the basic biology of apolipoprotein E (apoE) metabolism in the laboratory of David Holtzman, MD. Schindler then trained in clinical neurology at Washington University and completed a fellowship in dementia under the mentorship of Drs. John Morris, Marc Diamond and Anne Fagan. Currently Schindler sees patients with memory concerns in a weekly clinic, coordinates lumbar punctures for patients seen in the memory clinic and attends on the neurology consult service one month per year. She also performs detailed research assessments for the Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center. She has been involved in multiple clinical trials, including the first prevention drug trial for Alzheimer disease. Schindler received a career development award from the National Institute on Aging to study cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer disease. She received a large R01 to evaluate the relationship between plasma biomarkers and symptomatic Alzheimer disease. She is very interested in translating research findings into clinical practice. Further, she has a particular focus on understanding and reducing disparities in healthcare.

Rachel Hendrix, PhD, is a neuroscientist who has been studying the molecular underpinnings of Alzheimer disease for over 10 years. She earned her doctorate working with Steven Barger at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences studying how excess neuronal Aβ42 can cause glucose intolerance and reduced glucose uptake into the brain. In 2018 she moved to St. Louis to complete her postdoc with John Cirrito at Washington University. During her postdoc she continued to use her expertise to test a compound developed for the treatment of diabetes in an Alzheimer disease mouse model. She also studied relative contributions of excitatory and inhibitory signaling to the release and aggregation of Aβ, for which she was funded through the T32 Multidisciplinary Training in Alzheimer and Related Dementias led by the Knight ADRC and Hope Center. She joined the Fluid Biomarker Core in 2022 to move from research in animal models towards conducting translational research that she hopes will change clinical practice in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer disease.