Neurodegenerative Disease Risk & Resilience

Multiple biomarker, lifestyle, and environmental factors have been implicated in neurodegenerative disease risk. Varying combinations of these factors result in heterogeneous manifestations of disease. In contrast, comprehensive models of chronic disease highlight the shared underlying factors that may contribute to multiple disorders of aging. The complexity of these relationships requires multivariate analysis that can isolate the unique contributions of individual factors and account for the shared variability among them. In my research, I approach these relationships as investigations of risk and resilience to disease development, including cognitive reserve/resilience, social determinants of disease, and compensatory strategies in aging. I examine the influences of early and later life predictors of both healthy aging and neurodegenerative disease and their interaction with biomarkers to explain disparities in disease incidence and variations in symptom manifestation.