Vanderbilt Alzheimer's Disease Research Day

This annual campus-wide academic event showcases Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia research from multiple clinical and basic science departments across campus, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University, and Meharry Medical College.

5th Annual Vanderbilt Alzheimer's Disease Research Day - April 10th, 2024

This year's theme will focus on big data in Alzheimer's disease research. Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Christos Davatzikos, Director of the Center for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics at The University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. His keynote lecture is titled "Machine Learning in Neuroimaging of Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease."

The 5th Annual Vanderbilt Alzheimer's Disease Research Day is free to attend and open to the Vanderbilt and Meharry community, but attendees are asked to register by Wednesday, March 27th, 2024. Only registrants will be able to access the complimentary breakfast, lunch, and reception offerings. While this year's theme focuses on big data in Alzheimer's disease research, we welcome abstract submissions focused on any Alzheimer's disease and related dementia topic.The abstract deadline is Wednesday, March 13th, 2024.

Schedule of Events

AD Research Day

Highlights from Alzheimer's Disease Research Day 2023

Our 4th Annual Vanderbilt Alzheimer’s Disease Research Day underlined the important work happening across Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University, and Meharry Medical College to better understand disparities in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Faculty members Dr. Alexander Conley, Dr. Amalia Peterson, and Dr. Logan Dumitrescu kicked off the day with amazing talks focused on sex disparities in Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Donald Alcendor and Dr. Consuelo Wilkins followed with powerful presentations on racial and ethnic inequities in Alzheimer’s and related dementia research.
Dr. Kelsie Full and Dr. Fiona Harrison led our afternoon faculty presentations with two impressive talks on socioenvironmental disparities, examining the effects of toxin exposures and irregular sleep on Alzheimer’s and related dementia risk.
Following the faculty presentations, Dr. Francis Cambronero led an insightful presentation on diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice as a central component of rigorous and reproducible science.
Of nearly 50 abstract submissions from labs across Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center campus, three stood out. Kaidi Kang, a graduate student under the mentorship of Dr. Dandan Liu, Yisu Yang, a undergraduate student under the mentorship of Dr. Derek Archer, and Dr. Marissa Gogniat a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Angela Jefferson each participated in our data blitz session, giving a brief overview of their research.
We were honored to welcome Dr. Jonathan Jackson, Executive Director of Community Access, Recruitment, and Engagement (CARE) Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, who gave an outstanding keynote presentation on quantified approaches to health equity in clinical research. He brought forth new ideas for measurement, recruitment, and engagement as we work toward representation.
We wrapped up the event with a poster session and reception. Kaidi Kang was named the data blitz winner and Amanda Marino and Rebecca Buchanan from Dr. Fiona Harrison’s lab took home first and second place posters.