Sotiris Masmanidis

Dr. Keith Vossel is the Michael M. Minchin, Jr., President, J.D. French Alzheimer’s
Foundation Endowed Chair and Professor of Neurology in the David Geffen School
of Medicine at UCLA. He leads a comprehensive Center incorporating outreach and
engagement to diverse communities, electronic health records, social determinants
of health, neuroimaging, neurophysiology, genetics, preclinical and clinical trials,
and clinical care to develop new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and related
dementias and achieve equity in recognition and care of dementia.
 

Dr. Vossel received a master’s degree in biomedical engineering and medical
degree with highest honors from the University of Tennessee. He completed
neurology residency at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital
and Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he served as a chief resident. Dr. Vossel
completed fellowship training in behavioral neurology and dementia research at the
University of California, San Francisco and Gladstone Institutes.
 

Dr. Vossel investigates Alzheimer's disease and related dementias with a focus on
brain rhythm abnormalities and translational therapies. Key discoveries include the
presence of silent epileptic activity, occurring during sleep and accelerating cognitive
decline in Alzheimer’s disease, effects of amyloid-β and tau deposition on brain
rhythms and related cognitive impairments in Alzheimer’s disease, and novel
pathological functions of tau in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.
 

Dr. Vossel led a phase 2a clinical trial showing that low doses of an antiseizure drug
can improve memory and problem solving in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and
detectable epileptic activity. Dr. Vossel is broadening these studies in Greater Los
Angeles and incorporating them into the expanded activities of the Alzheimer’s
Disease Research Center in the UCLA Easton Center.
 

The Center has begun an intensive effort to improve recognition of dementia in
primary care, including brain health screening tools in the electronic health records,
and to improve diversity of patient referrals to Memory Clinic and clinical trials. The
Center focuses on health equity, diversity, and inclusion and acknowledges the
structural determinants of health and social inequities, and the impact they have on
brain health, Alzheimer’s risk, prevalence, and longevity post-diagnosis.
 

Dr. Vossel has written Op-Eds for the Los Angeles Times and has been featured in
numerous national and international media outlets including CNN, NPR, The
Washington Post, Financial Times, USA Today, STAT, Boston Globe, Daily Mail,
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, FOX 11 LA, CBS 2 and KCAL News, KNBC-LA
and NBC Channel 4 News, KNX News Radio in LA, Doctor Radio on Sirius XM
Radio, and Spectrum News 1 SoCal. Dr. Vossel has received the John Douglas
French Alzheimer's Distinguished Research Scholar Award, a Part the Cloud
Translational Research Award from the Alzheimer's Association, the Bernese
Epilepsy Award from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and the Outstanding
Health Care Innovator Award from the Los Angeles Business Journal.