Bio
Dr. Peskind’s research addresses stress hormones in aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as well as treatment for both the cognitive impairment and noncognitive behavioral problems of AD. Her NIA R01 currently is studying the antiadrenergic agents, propranolol and prazosin, for the treatment of disruptive agitation in AD patients in the long-term care setting. In addition, she is evaluating the role of apolipoprotein-E (APOE) genotype in brain exposure to the stress hormone cortisol.
She currently is PI of a National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center funded multi-center study to confirm and extend her preliminary finding that APOE-e4 increases cerebrospinal fluid cortisol in an aging-dependent manner. She also will follow longitudinally nondemented older persons carrying the e4 allele to determine if those with higher CSF cortisol concentrations are more likely to develop cognitive decline and AD. Because excess cortisol may lower the threshold for neuronal damage and degeneration, establishing that brain cortisol exposure is determined by APOE genotype may suggest a potentially alterable mechanism by which the APOE-e4 allele exerts its deleterious effects.
Dr. Peskind is Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, with special interests in neuroendocrinology of aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and affective and anxiety disorders. She is Associate Director of the UW Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and Associate Director of the VA Northwest Network Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center. At the national level, Dr. Peskind is an elected member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. She has served on the NIA Neuroscience of Aging Review Committee from 1997 to present.
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