Okonkwo Lab News
Talia Brach Accepts Position at Elephas
Talia Brach graduated with her Master of Public Health and has accepted a position at Elephas on their Clinical Affairs Team. Congratulations, Talia!
May 15, 2025
Kyle Edmund’s Manuscript Accepted for Publication
Kyle Edmunds’s manuscript “Depression modifies age-associated [11C]PiB-PET amyloid burden in a cohort enriched with risk for AD” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (JAD). Congratulations, Kyle!
May 13, 2025
Isabella Hoang Accepted into Graduate School
Isabella Hoang was accepted into 5 graduate programs, and she has decided to attend Stanford University, where she will pursue her Master of Science in Epidemiology and Clinical Research! Congratulations, Isabella – we are so …
April 15, 2025Abstracts Accepted for Poster Presentation at AAIC 2025
The Okonkwo Lab has 4 lab members whose abstracts were accepted for poster presentation at AAIC 2025 in Toronto, Canada: Isabella Hoang: The Impact of Language Mismatch on Mini Mental State Examination Scores is Moderated …
April 9, 2025
Welcome Mae McCarty
The Okonkwo Lab is excited to welcome another member to our team: Mae McCarty is the CLARiTI Access Core Program Manager. Mae holds a Master of Public Health degree and has spent the past nine …
April 9, 2025
Gabriella Mamlouk’s Manuscript Accepted for Publication
Gabriella Mamlouk’s manuscript “Sex modifies the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and insulin resistance in adults at risk for Alzheimer’s disease” has been accepted for publication in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. Congratulations, Gabby!
April 8, 2025
Ikenna Odoh’s Abstract Accepted for Oral Presentation
Dr. Ikenna Odoh’s abstract titled “The Association of Cardiorespiratory Fitness with Rates of Cognitive Decline in a Multiethnic Cohort at Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease” has been selected for a Lightning Oral Presentation at the Alzheimer’s …
March 21, 2025
Ozioma Okonkwo Invited to Serve on Alzheimer’s Association Clinical Practice Guideline Panel
Dr. Ozioma Okonkwo has been invited to serve on the Alzheimer’s Association Clinical Practice Guideline on the Staging of Alzheimer’s Disease. This guideline panel will be comprised of a mix of specialties including primary care, …
March 13, 2025
SuperAging Team Presenting at The St. John’s On The Lake Symposium On Aging
The UW SuperAging team (Ozioma Okonkwo, Monica Bruce, and Alyssa Pandos) is participating in the Saint John’s on the Lake Symposium on Aging on March 13th – 14th in Milwaukee, WI. Ozioma and Monica are …
March 12, 2025Ozioma Okonkwo Invited as Guest Lecturer to Science Sundays series
Dr. Ozioma Okonkwo was invited as a guest lecturer for the Science Sundays series at Ohio State University on 3/2/25. His lecture was titled “Resilience to Alzheimer’s Disease: A Play in 5 Acts”.
March 3, 2025Gabriella Mamlouk Completes First Thesis Committee Meeting
Gabby Mamlouk successfully completed her first thesis committee meeting, where she shared the framework for her project of interest. Congratulations on this first big step towards completing your thesis!
January 31, 2025
Bri Breidenbach Transitions into Scientist Position
Dr. Bri Breidenbach has transitioned from her role as a Postdoctoral Fellow to a Scientist position in our lab!! Bri has been a Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab for over 2 years, where she has …
January 31, 2025Kyle Edmunds’s Manuscript Accepted for Publication
Dr. Kyle Edmund’s manuscript “BDNF expression mediates verbal learning and memory in women in a cohort enriched with risk for Alzheimer’s disease“ has been accepted and published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease …
January 16, 2025Ozioma Okonkwo’s Editorial Published
Dr. Ozioma Okonkwo recently published the article “Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative: Two decades of pioneering Alzheimer’s disease research and future directions” in Alzheimer’s & Dementia. It is the editorial for the ADNI 20th Anniversary Special Issue, …
January 9, 2025
Chinenye Odo’s Manuscript Accepted for Publication
Dr. Chinenye Odo’s manuscript “Cardiovascular rate pressure product is associated with NfL in older adults at risk for AD“ has been accepted for publication in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring. Congratulations, Chinenye!
January 7, 2025Ikenna Odoh Passes First Stage of UW Medical License Examination
Ikenna Odoh passed the first stage of the US Medical License Examination this month! Congratulations on this accomplishment – we are so proud!
December 18, 2024
Sara Fernandes-Taylor Awarded Professional Development Grant
Dr. Sara Fernandes-Taylor was awarded a UW-Madison Academic Staff Professional Development Grant totaling $1,200 to enable her attendance to AD/PD 2025! Congratulations, Sara!
December 12, 2024Ozioma Okonkwo Quoted In Recent News Articles About CLARiTI
Dr. Ozioma Okonkwo was recently quoted in news articles about the first participant enrolled in the Clarity in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Research Through Imaging (CLARiTI) study. Dr. Okonkwo serves as the co-lead for …
November 11, 2024Abstracts Accepted for Oral Presentation at AD/PD 2025
The Okonkwo Lab has 2 lab members whose abstracts were accepted for oral presentation at AD/PD 2025 in Vienna, Austria: Sara Fernandes-Taylor (virtual): Region-specific measures of metabolism differentiate cognitively unimpaired individuals with elevated levels of …
November 5, 2024Okonkwo Lab at CTAD 2024
The Okonkwo Lab traveled to Madrid, Spain to attend the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease conference (CTAD)! Adam Paulsen gave a poster presentation: The longitudinal relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness, amyloid-β, and cognitive decline in adults …
November 5, 2024Hannatu Amaza, Amber Niay, and Mai Seng Thao’s Manuscript Accepted for Publication
Hannatu Amaza, Amber Niay, and Mai Seng Thao’s manuscript titled “The Health Equity Scholars Program: Fostering Culturally Competent and Successful Independent Investigators in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia Research” was accepted for publication in Alzheimer’s …
September 25, 2024Welcome Drs. Ikenna Odoh, Jacqueline Pontes Monteiro, and Kyle Edmunds
We are thrilled to welcome our newest lab members to the team! Ikenna Odoh, MD is a graduate research assistant from the Master of Public Health Program with an interest in improving health outcomes for people …
September 25, 2024Welcome New Students!
We are excited to share that we have 3 new students who joined the Okonkwo Lab in the Fall 2024 semester: Charisma Waters: I’m a sophomore studying biology with certificate in BioCore. I’m super excited …
September 9, 2024
Noah Cook’s Manuscript Accepted for Publication
Noah Cook’s manuscript “β-Amyloid positivity is less prevalent in cognitively unimpaired KLOTHO KL-VS heterozygotes” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Alzheimer’s disease (JAD). Congratulations, Noah!
September 3, 2024
Okonkwo Lab at AAIC 2024
The Okonkwo Lab traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to attend AAIC 2024! Kenzie Jarchow gave a poster presentation: KLOTHO KL-VS genotype modifies the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and CSF biomarkers of neurodegeneration, synaptic dysfunction, and inflammation Bri …
August 19, 2024
Monica Bruce’s Abstract Accepted for Oral Presentation
Monica Bruce’s abstract Elevate Your Community Engaged Research was accepted for a 1-hour, in-person seminar at the 2024 American Speech Language Hearing Association Convention in Seattle, Washington! Monica submitted this abstract in conjunction with Sara …
August 16, 2024Ozioma Okonkwo Appointed to the Review Committee on Academic Staff Research Professor Titles
Dr. Ozioma Okonkwo has been appointed to the Review Committee on Academic Staff Research Professor Titles. This committee will assess the landscape for use of Assistant Research Professor, Associate Research Professor, and Research Professor titles since …
August 16, 2024Ozioma Okonkwo’s Manuscripts Accepted for Publication
Dr. Ozioma Okonkwo authored two manuscripts recently accepted for publication: “A Protocol for the Inclusion of Minoritized Persons in Alzheimer’s Disease Research From the ADNI3 Diversity Taskforce” (lead author) was published in JAMA Network Open. It …
August 16, 2024Kyle Edmunds Receives Loan Repayment
Dr. Kyle Edmunds was recently awarded a Loan Repayment Plan award with the NIH which helps pay off student debt. Congratulations Kyle on this amazing news!
August 16, 2024Ozioma Okonkwo Contributes to Revised Criteria for Diagnosing and Staging AD
Since 2022, Dr. Ozioma Okonkwo served on the NIA-Alzheimer’s Association expert workgroup that establishes definitions and boundary classifications for Alzheimer’s disease (i.e., the NIA-Alzheimer’s Association Research Framework for Alzheimer’s Disease). The Revised Criteria for Diagnosing …
July 23, 2024- More News