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Dr Gillian Coughlan
Name:
Dr Gillian Coughlan
Job Title:
Instructor
Place of work / study:
Harvard/MGH
Area of Research:
Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease
How is your work funded:
NIH and Alzheimer’s Association
Tell us a little about yourself:
My early interest in ageing, particularly pathological ageing, led me to undertake a PhD at the University of Norwich Medical School, during which I also held a visiting researcher affiliation at the University of Cambridge. During my doctoral work, I used innovative digital technologies to identify personalised cognitive markers associated with genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Building on this foundation, I expanded my research into multi-modal neuroimaging during my postdoctoral training, applying advanced imaging approaches to study Alzheimer’s disease pathology in greater depth.
Before leaving Canada, where I completed my first postdoctoral fellowship, I was awarded a competitive two-year fellowship from the Alzheimer Society of Canada. I continued this fellowship at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital under the mentorship of Rachel Buckley and Reisa Sperling. In 2024, I received the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Grant and an Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship, supporting my promotion to Instructor at Harvard Medical School and MGH in January 2025.
Alzheimer’s disease disproportionately affects women, and my current research focuses on identifying personalised risk factors associated with changes in Alzheimer’s biomarkers. A key contribution of my work has shown how menopausal hormone therapy influences regional tau accumulation, a finding with the potential to inform prevention strategies in postmenopausal individuals. I now lead multi-cohort and meta-analytic studies to better understand brain changes in the preclinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
I welcome enquiries from prospective doctoral fellowship applicants.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
My interest in sex differences extends way beyond the neurobiology of Alzheimer’s disease!
Why did you choose to work in dementia:
I was always interested in the process of aging, and then naturally fell in the “dementia” field of research.
What single piece of of advice would you give to an early career researcher?
Publish!
What book are you reading right now? Would you recommend it?
Diane von Furstenberg – the women I wanted to be
Favourite film of all time?
I love films! Maybe “You’ve got mail”
Favourite ways to unplug and unwind?
Reading usually
What’s the best decision you ever made?
To prioritise family
What’s the best vacation spot?
Can’t pick one favorite, somewhere in Europe
Do you collect anything?
Picture frames
Would you like to share your playlist?
Not today
