David Rubinsztein is Professor of Molecular Neurogenetics and a UK Dementia Research Institute Professor at the University of Cambridge. He is Deputy Director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. Dr. Rubinsztein earned his MB ChB, BSc(Med)Hons, and PhD degrees from University of Cape Town. He came to Cambridge in 1993 as a Senior Registrar in genetic pathology and was the first person to complete formal training in this field in the UK. His research is focused in the field of autophagy, particularly in the context of neurodegenerative diseases. His laboratory pioneered the strategy of autophagy upregulation as a possible therapeutic approach in various neurodegenerative diseases, and has identified drugs and novel pathways that may be exploited for this objective. He has made contributions that reveal the relevance of autophagy defects as a disease mechanism and to the basic cell biology of this important catabolic process. Rubinsztein was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2004), EMBO member (2011) and Fellow of the Royal Society (2017). He was awarded the Graham Bull Prize (2007), Thudichum Medal (2017) and Roger de Spoelberch prize (2017).