Louisa Thompson, Ph.D., a research scientist at the Memory and Aging Program (MAP) at Butler Hospital and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Brown University, has been awarded a “K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award” from the National Institute of Health (NIH). Dr. Thompson is using the grant to focus on early detection of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in primary care settings.
The purpose of the K23 award is to provide individuals who have a clinical doctoral degree with an intensive, supervised, patient-oriented research experience. The award also provides a grant - allowing recipients to pursue a project, without a mentor, to develop into independent clinical researchers involved in patient-oriented, rather than basic, research.
Dr. Thompson’s research is focused on verifying methods for early detection of Alzheimer’s including digital assessments and blood biomarkers. These low-burden and scalable diagnostic tools allow for early disease detection and provide patients an opportunity to receive early treatments or preventive care.
“This prestigious award represents an important investment by the NIH in the career development of talented young researchers to become independent investigators. Dr. Thompson’s grant is highly innovative and uniquely designed to reach a broad and diverse group of individuals, which fits well with the commitment of MAP and Brown University’s Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research to early detection and intervention for AD,” said MAP Founding Director Stephen Salloway, MD, MS.
“I hope this project, which dovetails with many existing areas of team effort in our program including Spanish language support, minimally invasive biomarkers, and PCP outreach, will also benefit MAP and further build our connections with community providers to make ADRD research and care more accessible and inclusive,” Dr. Thompson said.