Laura Mitic is the Chief Scientific Officer at the Bluefield Project to Cure Frontotemporal Dementia, a San Francisco-based 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to finding a cure for frontotemporal dementia (FTD) caused by mutations in progranulin. She works closely with academic scientists in the Bluefield Research Consortium and industry colleagues to accelerate the translation of therapeutically-relevant discoveries. Dr. Mitic leads Bluefield’s efforts to support the development of biomarkers for FTD onset and progression, including overseeing the Neurofilament Surveillance Project, a multi-year pre-competitive collaboration funded by biotech, pharma and nonprofits to better understand the clinical utility of plasma neurofilament light chain in FTD interventional trials. She also works across diverse collaborative initiatives to foster the success of commercial clinical trials in progranulin-deficient FTD, including efforts to identify more trial participants and to decrease barriers to clinical trial participation.

Dr. Mitic earned a BA in biology from Northwestern University and a PhD in cell biology from Yale University. After completing postdoctoral studies in the genetics of aging at UCSF, she joined the Consortium for FTD Research (CFR) in 2009 and helped to establish the Bluefield Project in 2011. Dr. Mitic actively participates in community efforts, co-founding an education-focused nonprofit and participating in local initiatives.