History
From a dozen laboratories gathered in Boston in April 2007 to a community of 400 across four continents. Nineteen years of human brain imaging.
The meeting format — brief talks and abundant discussion — was immediately recognized as a success. The reason for its continued success is probably that speakers are asked to omit basic background slides, which consume so much time at most meetings, and present for only seven minutes. After each talk, discussion is led by the Chairs and includes active audience participation.
This has worked because, unlike larger gatherings with far less time for discussion, each point is given time for consideration by several participants. With sufficient time, detailed answers — or explanations of non-answers — can be aired and clarified by those who often have substantial recent experience with a given issue. The first keynote speakers were Drs. Dennis Selkoe and Bradley Hyman from Boston.
In the following five years, the basic format of sessions and talks was retained, but the community began to see new forms of data: longitudinal studies and an ever-increasing body of neuropathologic correlational data. In 2011, the HAI became a stand-alone, two-day meeting, independent of the AAN/ADRC/ADNI meetings. Attendance was approximately 200, and post-event surveys confirmed that interest in the community could sustain the new format.
Starting with 2012, the HAI successfully continued this structure — continuously adding registrants, counting closer to 350 in 2015 — and appended a welcome reception to expand networking time. In 2015, the meeting piloted an additional half-day focusing on advances in tau PET. This addition quickly proved essential, and from 2016 onward the program expanded to a full three‑day format, reflecting the field’s rapid growth beyond amyloid‑focused research.
Attendance now regularly counts over 400 individuals from leading research centers across the Americas, Europe, the Far East, and Australia. What began as an informal gathering of a dozen labs has become the field's principal working meeting — small enough to know everyone in the room, rigorous enough to change your analysis before you fly home.
HAI was founded and led for its first fourteen years by four scientists whose work defined the field of amyloid PET imaging. Their commitment to open, rigorous, time-protected discussion created the format that continues to distinguish HAI from every other meeting in the field.
Professor of Radiology and Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Director of Molecular Neuroimaging at MGH. Co-director of the Neuroimaging Program of the Massachusetts ADRC and its DIAN research initiatives. Dr. Johnson continues to serve as Meeting Chair.
Professor of Public Health and Neuroscience at UC Berkeley. A pioneer in the use of PET, MRI, and fMRI to study brain aging and neurodegenerative disease. His laboratory's work on amyloid deposition in normal aging helped establish the scientific foundation for HAI.
Co-director of the Alzheimer Disease Research Center at UPMC and a pioneer of in vivo amyloid imaging. Co-inventor of Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB), whose 2004 publication remains the most frequently cited paper on Alzheimer's disease. Recipient of an NIA MERIT Award.
Director of the University of Pittsburgh PET Facility and co-developer of Pittsburgh Compound B alongside Dr. Klunk. A radiochemist whose career-long work in PET radiopharmaceutical development made the in vivo imaging of amyloid possible.
Executive Committee, Program Committee & more
Current and historical committees, theme co-chairs, YI Award judges, and keynote speaker archive.