Dr Prashanthi Vemuri
Name:
Dr Prashanthi Vemuri
Job title:
Associate Professor of Radiology
Place of work / study:
Mayo Clinic, College of Medicine, USA
Area of Research:
Imaging biomarkers [1] of Neurodegenerative and Cerebrovascular Disease
Tell us a little about yourself:
I am an imaging scientist and lead a translational team at the Mayo Clinic. We focus on understanding the pathways to exceptional aging and how individuals in 80s and 90s are able to maintain excellent brain health and have great memory and cognition. We are developing and leveraging imaging technologies to help us capture the multifactorial early changes in the brain – be it vascular disease, amyloidosis, tau, or age related changes. We then apply modelling to fit these processes together to understand the puzzle of cognitive decline.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
My grandfather is an exceptional ager in mid 90s and has inspired me to be Scientist like him.
Why did you choose to work in dementia?
I didn’t choose dementia but dementia chose me. I studied engineering and did my doctoral work on the development of better MRI technologies to visualize blood vessels in the brain. I was looking for a postdoctoral experience that would lead me to direct clinical translational and interviewed with Clifford Jack Jr. at the Mayo Clinic. And the rest as I say is totally going with the flow and enjoying the ride.