Faculty

I am a physician-scientist specializing in Population Neuroscience of Aging. I am especially interested in the neurobiological drivers of successful aging.
Although older age is typically associated with a seemingly inevitable performance decline, we have evidence that some older adults appear resistant and resilient to the effect of aging. Based on our discoveries, we believe that there are distinct neurobiological characteristics that can explain why some people age better than others and why some people respond to treatment better than others. We also believe that enhancing these neurobiological drivers of resilience can enhance function.
Andrea Rosso, MPH, PhD
Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Dr. Rosso is Director of the BEAM (Brain, Environment, Aging, and Mobility) lab, with expertise analyzing functional near infrared spectroscopy during dual task conditions, and assessing the ecological validity of laboratory-based dual tasks. Dr. Rosso was awarded the CTSI KL2, a NIA K01 award, and a R21 to advance her work on overcoming environmental challenges to moving in older adults.


I am new faculty in Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and a University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center REC Scholar working with the Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement (ORE) Core. I integrate epidemiology, biostatistics, neuroscience/neuroimaging, and psychology to study vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID), including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), using a Population Neuroscience framework. I have been funded by NIH through prior T32 and F31 awards. My research focuses on identifying promoters of cerebral small vessel integrity to prevent AD and related disorders and has included evaluation of growth factors, physical activity, and vascular risk factor reduction. I am presently applying a population neuroscience approach to evaluate whether there are sex differences in the cerebral small vessel disease-to-AD pathophysiological cascade. My aim is to gain insight into gender/sex-specific intervention targets to reduce AD and promote brain health equity.
Collaborators
Post-Docs

Emma Baillargeon, PT, DPT, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate, Epidemiology


Students



Former Trainees and Scholars


Jason D. Flatt, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Social and Behavioral Program, University of Nevada, School of Public Health

Megan Olson Hunt, PhD
Associate Professor of Statistics in the Mathematics and Statistics Unit, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Alina Lesnovskaya
PhD Student, Epidemiology

Anne Ritter, DrPH, MPH
US Army Medical Research and Development Command

Qu (Teresa) Tian, PhD, MS
PhD Epidemiologist at NIH

Wesley DeHaven
MPH Student, Epidemiology

Erica Fan, MPH
Research Analyst, University of Pittsburgh

Zack Hubbard
MPH Student, Epidemiology

Dana Jorgensen, MPH, PhD
Senior Manager of Epidemiology, Health Economics and Outcomes Research at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Vijay Venkatraman, PhD
Imaging Scientist at National Institutes of Health

Ayushi Divechi, MPT, MPH
Clinical Reseach Coordinator, Burke Neurological Institute


Tim Hughes, PhD
Assistant Professor, Wake Forest School of Medicine

Raj Kumar, PhD, MPH
Postdoctoral Fellow at the Brain Injury Research Center at Mount Sinai

Karen Nunley, PhD
Team Lead Chronic Disease Epidemiologist, State of Texas at Texas Dept of Health and Human Service

Stephen F. Smagula, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Staff


