Randall J. Bateman, MD, the Charles F. & Joanne Knight Distinguished Professor of Neurology, and David M. Holtzman, MD, the Barbara Burton and Reuben M. Morriss III Distinguished Professor, both in WashU Medicine’s Department of Neurology, have been selected to receive the 2026 American Innovator Award from the Bayh-Dole Coalition. The award honors researchers, entrepreneurs and technology professionals who exemplify the determination required to move a federally funded discovery from the laboratory to the marketplace.
Bateman and Holtzman were recognized for their transformative work developing new methods of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. Over a decadeslong research collaboration, the pair pioneered the first methods for detecting the neurodegenerative disease in living patients through blood and cerebrospinal fluid rather than neuroimaging. That work led to the development of PrecivityAD, the first blood-based diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s disease, now marketed by C2N Diagnostics — a St. Louis startup co-founded by Bateman and Holtzman.
The American Innovator Award is given annually by the Bayh-Dole Coalition, a group of organizations and individuals committed to protecting the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. This revolutionary legislation allowed academic institutions to own the inventions they make with government funding, ensuring more research discoveries can move from the lab to market.
Bateman and Holtzman are featured in the Bayh-Dole Coalition’s 2026 Faces of American Innovation report published May 11. They will be honored June 3 at an award ceremony in Washington, D.C.
Read more on the WashU Medicine news website.
