Born in Florence, Ky., on September 30, 1932. Professor of pathology and neurology. Director of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and its Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. University of Kentucky, B.A., 1960, M.D., 1964.
He is nationally known for his expertise on Alzheimer's Disease and has served on a U.S. Congressional advisory panel on preventing illnesses. He is a member of the national board of directors of the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association (ADRDA) and is Vice Chairman of the ADRDA medical and scientific advisory board.
From 1968-1972, he held several academic positions and hospital affiliations in New York City and Rochester, N.Y. In 1972, he returned to the College of Medicine at UK as an associate professor of neurology and pathology, and from 1977-1980 was Director of the Muscular Dystrophy Clinic.
In 1972, he became an associate neurologist, and in 1974, an associate pathologist and a consultant in neurology and neuropathology at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Lexington. In 1975, he became Director of neuropathology at the UK College of Medicine, and in 1977, professor of neurology and pathology.
In 1979, he was named Director of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, and in 1980, became a professor of anatomy, and a member of the graduate faculty at UK's chemistry department. In 1985, he was named Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. He has received numerous academic honors including being named a University of Kentucky Distinguished Alumni Professor in 1985, receiving the Robert S. Whitney Alzheimer's Award in 1986, and in 1987 was elected to Omicron Delta Kappa.
He has published over 200 articles and abstracts.
He continues to see patients in the Memory Disorder Clinic at UK and serves as a medical adviser to the Lexington/Bluegrass Alzheimer's Association of which he was a founding member.
William R. Markesbery was named to the Hall of Distinguished Alumni on October 13, 1989 -- the Alumni Association's centennial year.
