Research Areas

Neuroimaging & Alzheimer’s Disease (AD/ADRD)

Large-scale longitudinal studies of aging, dementia, and neurodegeneration using multimodal MRI biomarkers.

• Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers (amyloid, tau, ATN framework)
• Population cohorts (HCHS/SOL, DPPOS, EAS, SOL-INCA)
• Cognitive decline and dementia prediction
• Vascular contributions to cognitive impairment (VCID)

Cerebrovascular & Perfusion Imaging

• Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) perfusion MRI
• Cerebral autoregulation after TBI and stroke
• White matter hyperintensities (WMH)
• Blood flow and vascular injury mapping

Functional MRI & Brain Connectivity

• Resting-state fMRI connectivity
• Task-based fMRI activation studies
• Neurovascular coupling
• Brain network disruption in aging and disease

Diffusion MRI & White Matter Microstructure

• DWI / DTI tractography
• White matter integrity and connectivity
• Microstructural brain injury
• Neurodevelopment & neurodegeneration

Quantitative MRI Biomarkers

• Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM)
• T2 relaxometry & flow quantification
• UTE / advanced tissue characterization
• Iron, myelin, and metabolic imaging

Neurocognitive & Behavioral Neuroscience

• Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) & dementia
• Gait and dual-task walking studies
• Functional decline in aging
• Brain-behavior relationships

Metabolic Disease & Brain Health

• Diabetes, prediabetes, insulin resistance
• Cardiometabolic risk and cognition
• Obesity and vascular brain injury
• Metabolic aging effects on brain structure

Muscle & Body Imaging

• CKD-related muscle fibrosis
• Mitochondrial bioenergetics (CEST MRI)
• Muscle microstructure and function
• Exercise physiology MRI

Oncology & Cancer Imaging

• Breast cancer (I-SPY trials)
• Chemotherapy-related brain effects (chemobrain)
• Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE)
• TMEM doorway metastasis imaging

Systemic Disease & Neuroinflammation

• COVID-19 long-term brain effects
• HIV + substance use and myocardial disease
• Multiple sclerosis imaging
• Inflammation and brain aging

AI for Medical Imaging & Radiology

• AI-based MRI reconstruction and acceleration
• AI for neuroimaging biomarkers & disease prediction
• LLM- and multimodal AI–assisted radiology
• AI-powered MRI image processing & analysis