Ambulatory Assessments of Cognitive and Brain Health

Abstract:
Advancing therapeutic discovery and prevention strategies for Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD) requires tools that can accurately identify individuals at risk for cognitive decline and precisely monitor subtle cognitive changes across various time scales. Performance-based assessment remains the gold-standard for measuring cognitive health. However, conventional assessment tools were not designed to monitor and track cognitive changes in cognitive health over time, which has limited progress in these areas. High-frequency assessment approaches afford the ability to overcome many of the limitations of conventional assessments and offer the ability to capture new features of cognitive change, providing greater insight into underlying changes in brain health. I'll review the motivation for high-frequency, ambulatory cognitive assessment and provide an overview of progress utilizing these tools in studies of AD/ADRD risk surveillance and prevention.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Hakun is the director of the Cognitive and Mobile Phenotyping (CAMP) Neurolaboratory in the Department of Neurology, Penn State College of Medicine. Dr. Hakun's work aims to leverage continuous monitoring of cognitive change and variation to support development of new approaches to cognitive and brain health promotion throughout the adult lifespan. His work is funded by the National Institute on Aging and involves a technology-driven high-frequency observational, cohort, and adaptive interventional approach to support these goals.

Contact

Nikki Crowley
nzc27@psu.edu