Penn FTD Center
About Us
The Penn FTD Center has dedicated over 15 years to advancing neuroscience research forward, helping address timely questions, including biomarker development, determining molecular mechanisms of disease, understanding the natural history of FTD and related disorders, and understanding and reducing barriers to health equity.
Our robust translational research program contributes to improving diagnosis, developing new markers of prognosis, and discovering therapeutic targets that can enhance and further the development of treatment trials aimed at treating the underlying biology of FTD and related disorders. The Penn FTD Center also works in close collaboration with neurodegenerative disease centers including the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (CNDR), the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), the Penn Memory Center, the Penn Comprehensive ALS Center, and the Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center. All of these centers have a rich history of collaboration and have contributed many important discoveries to our understanding of neurodegenerative disease, especially FTD. We also collaborate on these projects with other stakeholders, both nationally and internationally. The knowledge we gain helps our collaborators worldwide move the scientific understanding of disease forward and improve diagnosis and treatment.
In addition to our specialty care clinic, interdisciplinary research program, and participation in several first-in-humans clinical trials, the Penn FTD Center provides an excellent training environment for undergraduate students, graduate students, clinical fellows, and research fellows. We are committed to the education of the next generation of world-leading frontotemporal degeneration experts.
The Penn FTD Center is devoted to improving the quality of life for people affected by FTD and their loved ones and actively engages with the community through outreach efforts. We serve our community by advocating for individuals and families affected by FTD, offering several patient and caregiver-focused conferences, programs, and initiatives, partnering with influential advocacy organizations such as the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, the Lewy Body Dementia Association, Cure PSP, and many others. The communication and behavior difficulties associated with many forms of FTD can leave caregivers and patients feeling socially isolated and misunderstood. These programs aim to increase awareness of FTD in the community at large and provide support, knowledge, and empowerment to those diagnosed with FTD and their caregivers and family members through access to the latest information on innovative treatments, diagnostics, symptom management, and delivery of real-time updates on the research programs.
The Penn FTD Center’s staff is committed to creating a safe, compassionate, and collaborative space for our patients and their families, who make altruistic contributions through research and advocacy programs, and selflessly dedicate their time, energy, and trust to our staff each and every day. Our staff is continuously inspired by our patients’ stories and is incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to create meaningful relationships that keep them and their families coming back to our center for years. At the Penn FTD Center, patients, families, clinicians, researchers, scientists, and students all come together, working as one to create hope for the future and bring us closer to a reality where a cure for FTD and related dementias is possible.​
Honoring Penn FTD Center Founder
Dr. Murray Grossman
In 2010 Dr. Murray Grossman created the Penn FTD Center. Located in Philadelphia, this center brings together leading experts in neuropsychology, neuroimaging, clinical care, biofluid biomarkers, and cognitive neuroscience in an effort to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and care for individuals with frontotemporal degeneration (FTD).
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Murray Grossman, MDCM, EdD passed away peacefully at home on April 4, 2023, surrounded by his family. Dr. Grossman was highly respected and cherished by many, especially the patients and families he cared for. He made seminal contributions to the field of neurology and was a role model for all, embodying the tripartite mission for academic neurology. His impact on the field of neurology was extraordinary and the impact he made on a personal level to patients, families, trainees, and research collaborators was enormous.
If you would like to make a memorial donation to the Penn FTD Center to continue Dr. Grossman's work, please consider a donation using the link below.
A neurology professor at the University of Pennsylvania for over three decades, Dr. Grossman authored or co-authored more than 600 scientific papers. Dr. Grossman focused his research on Alzheimer’s and related dementias, with a particular focus on young-onset dementias such as FTD, leading Dr. Grossman to form the Penn FTD Center in 2010. The center convenes experts across a range of disciplines to improve FTD care, diagnosis, and treatments. It also offers clinical genetic counseling services for FTD – a particular passion of Dr. Grossman’s. Dr. Grossman felt extraordinarily strong about empowering caregivers of persons with FTD and was the first to organize a caregiver conference for FTD and related disorders which continues today on an annual basis.
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​Dr. Grossman was an extraordinary mentor who considered his many trainees and collaborators friends and family. He brought together collaborators from various fields, emphasizing that a strong community is essential to achieve collective success in our fields. Dr. Grossman's legacy will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on the scientific community.
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The Penn FTD Center honors Dr. Grossman’s legacy by continuing to provide world-class clinical management of FTD and young-onset dementias as well as cutting-edge research to advance our understanding and treatment of these disorders.​​​ A video presentation on Dr. Murray Grossman's Memorial Symposium can be found here.