Angela Jefferson

June 12, 2023

Images predict functional decline

MRI brain scans at baseline for study participants 60 and older — who were free of clinical dementia at study entry — predicted a decline in independent function five years later.

By Paul Govern
January 24, 2023

How arterial “stiffness” may impair cognition

New findings from Vanderbilt neurologists suggest that cardiovascular disease may increase the spaces surrounding blood vessels in the brain and lead to cognitive decline.

By Kelsey Pinckard
Former patient Herbert Christopher poses for a photo with Elizabeth Perkins, MD, the first Christopher fellow of Otolaryngology.
September 15, 2022

Gifts bolster otolaryngology, Alzheimer’s disease programs

Herbert Christopher, a grateful Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery patient who received cochlear hearing implants from David Haynes, MD, has funded the training of otolaryngology fellows and leaders in Alzheimer’s disease care through several outright endowed gifts and additional gift planning with his estate.

By Emily Stembridge
June 21, 2022

Today Show: Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center makes national push for clinical study enrollment. You can help.

The Today Show’s Maria Shriver spotlighted a landmark, years-long study into the connection between heart health and Alzheimer’s disease, and the urgency to boost study enrollment—particularly among people of color who are disproportionally impacted yet historically underrepresented in research.

By Holly Fletcher
Leon Cai explains his poster to Sharon Kam (center) and Katherine Lee at the 2022 Alzheimer’s Disease Research Day.
April 7, 2022

Event highlights research on Alzheimer’s disease

The third annual Vanderbilt Alzheimer’s Disease Research Day featured numerous presentations and concluded with a keynote address by Suzanne Craft, PhD, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Wake Forest University.

By Paul Govern
November 19, 2021

Vanderbilt voices featured in Alzheimer’s webcast

Vanderbilt researchers took part in an online panel discussion this week sponsored by the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement (WAM), hosted by journalist and author Maria Shriver, the organization’s founder, and NBC news anchor Richard Lui.

By Paul Govern
July 15, 2021

Arterial stiffening linked to Alzheimer’s disease

A research team from Vanderbilt University Medical Center reports in Neurology that greater stiffening of the aorta, the main artery in the human body, is associated in older adults with increased Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology as reflected in a range of neurochemical indicators measured in cerebrospinal fluid.
By Paul Govern
October 1, 2020

VUMC forms center focused on Alzheimer’s and related dementias

Leaders at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have announced that the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center (VMAC), currently housed in the Department of Neurology, will become a freestanding institutional center.
By Paul Govern
September 10, 2020

VUMC to lay groundwork for Tennessee’s first federally funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center

Angela Jefferson, PhD, professor of Neurology and director of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center, has been awarded a $3.7 million, three-year grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to support establishment of a prospective NIA-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
By Paul Govern
August 6, 2020

Grant supports research on abnormal brain aging

With the aid of an $18.2 million, five-year grant renewal from the National Institute on Aging, the Vanderbilt Memory and Aging Project (VMAP) will advance interdisciplinary research into abnormal brain aging and cognitive decline in older adults, with continuing emphasis on the role of blood flow changes in the heart and brain.
By Paul Govern
May 7, 2020

New study examines Alzheimer’s disease images and molecular biomarkers

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) involves distinctive wasting away of certain brain regions, such that medical imaging of these regions can distinguish the disease from other subtypes of dementia.
By Paul Govern
March 21, 2019

Small vessel disease MRI marker linked to worse cognitive health in older adults

Enlarged perivascular spaces, which are commonly seen on brain MRIs in older adults, have important associations with worse cognitive performance, particularly information processing speed and executive function, according to a new study that challenges historical consideration that perivascular spaces are a harmless imaging marker.
By Holly Fletcher
October 25, 2018

Probing the pathology of impaired cognition

Detecting the neuropathology underlying cognitive impairment by lead to new targeted therapies.
By Bill Snyder
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