Prashanthi Vemuri, Ph.D.

Dr. Vemuri's research is geared towards developing and validating imaging biomarkers for early diagnosis, prognosis, tracking disease progression and answering key mechanistic questions related to Alzheimer's disease dementia using multimodal imaging. She develops technology based on MRI and PET scans.

Dr. Vemuri's research is funded by Alzheimer's Association and National Institute of Health.

Focus Areas

• MRI based biomarker development. This project entails developing methods that can extract information from scans to provide individual patient diagnosis and prognosis in AD and apply this information to track the progression of disease.
• Cognitive Reserve in Alzheimer's disease. Up to 30% of autopsied subjects with a pathology that qualifies the subject for a pathological diagnosis of AD are cognitively normal in life. The goal of this project is to use imaging technology to improve our understanding of how some people with higher cognitive reserve (e.g. IQ, education, lifestyle) are able to compensate for high levels of Alzheimer's disease pathology.

Significance to patient care

A major problem with relying on the current clinical diagnostic criteria is once patients begin to show symptoms, substantial brain damage has already occurred. What is urgently needed from a public health perspective are diagnostic instruments for early diagnosis of this condition.

Professional highlights

• AFAR-GE Healthcare Junior Investigator Award for Excellence in Aging and Imaging Research, 2010
• NIH Pathway to Independence Award K99/R00, 2011
• Alzheimer's Association New Investigator Award, 2011