Alzheimer’s Association supports Tobey Betthauser’s medical imaging research with 3-year fellowship award

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Tobey Betthauser

The Alzheimer’s Association named Tobey Betthauser, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow with the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, recipient of a Research Fellowship to study advancements in medical brain imaging and their usefulness in early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. The 3-year award in the amount of $172,600 will supports Betthauser’s project “AD Biomarker and Risk Characterization in Cognitively Unimpaired Middle-Age.”

Scientists have shown early brain changes related to Alzheimer’s disease occur a decade or more before people start exhibiting symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, such as memory and personality changes. Betthauser’s study will use positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and sensitive tests of mental performance to determine if these early brain changes can predict when or if people go on to develop the clinical symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. This work will improve the understanding of where and when these changes occur in the brain in relation to how memory and behavior are changing. These findings will improve how people are selected for clinical trials developing new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and will also help doctors and patients plan for the future.

The Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship is a program designed to foster the development of early career scientists in areas of AD research.