Dr. Luciana Mascarenhas Fonseca Receives NIA R03 Grant to Study Brain Changes in Aging American Indians

Dr. Luciana Mascarenhas Fonseca, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and core member of both the Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center and the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, has received an R03 grant from the National Institute on Aging for her project “Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Vascular Brain Injury- related changes in longitudinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging associated with Intraindividual Cognitive Variability in Aging American Indians”.

This study will assess whether intraindividual cognitive variability (IICV), the variation in an individual’s cognitive test performance at a single time point, can serve as an early, low-cost, and noninvasive biomarker for neurodegeneration and dementia risk in American Indians, a population with high rates of Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and vascular brain injury. Through analysis of longitudinal brain imaging, neuropsychological assessments, and decades of health history, the project aims to enhance early detection and intervention strategies. The findings could help broaden research on co-occurring conditions and dementia, support efforts to  reduce health disparities, and advance understanding of health inequities among older adults from ethnic minority groups.