Dr. Burke has worked extensively with patients and families suffering with neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease in Down Syndromw. Her area of expertise includes the diagnosis and management of cognitive disorders and the treatment of challenging behavioral and psychiatric disturbances that result from neurological conditions.

In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Burke has led the development of comprehensive multispecialty clinical care models focused on improving the quality of care for individuals with cognitive impairment and improving the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer’s and related dementias in the community.

She is a well-respected researcher having led over 80 clinical trials of investigational pharmacotherapies, neuromodulation, environmental modifications, prevention methods, and novel neuroimaging techniques.

Dr. Christian’s research and mentoring activities focus on developing and translating novel neuroimaging methods and PET radiotracers for the study of human development and neurodegeneration. This involves using neuroimaging to investigate neurochemical changes in the brain and studying novel radioligands to characterize neurotransmitter-protein interactions and how they are influenced by development, genes, environment and aging. He is also the Co-director of the Brain Imaging Lab and Director of the PET Imaging Core for the UW Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC). He is currently Co-PI of the Alzheimer’s Biomarker Consortium – Down Syndrome (ABC-DS) project, a multicenter study of the progression of Alzheimer’s disease related biomarkers in adults with Down syndrome.

Dr. Ances’ research focuses on developing novel neuroimaging biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases- especially Alzheimer’s disease (AD). He concentrates on functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography methods to detect early changes in the brain due to AD, and has pioneered the use of advanced neuroimaging techniques (including ASL and BOLD resting state functional connectivity) to study neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Ances has assisted collaborators in the United States and abroad in implementing advanced neuroimaging techniques.

Dr. Handen is a clinical psychologist with over 35 years’ experience as a researcher and clinician in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. His research involves some of the first published amyloid PET scan studies with adults with Down syndrome. In 2009, Dr. Handen and his colleagues initiated a NIA-funded, multicenter longitudinal study of amyloid deposition in the Down syndrome population and its impact on cognition. Currently, he is co-principal investigator of the coordinating center for a NIA/NICHD-funded, multicenter U01 study of biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome (Neurodegeneration in Adults Down Syndrome – NiAD).

Dr. Jicha serves as an Associate Center Director and leads the Clinical Core of the UK , NIA-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Center. He also serves as the Medical Director of Kentucky Telecare and directs the Telemedicine Cognitive Clinic at the University of Kentucky, designed to reach out to rural populations across Kentucky for both clinical and research-related activities in the area of AD and related disorders. He is the principle investigator at UK for the National Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) Group, the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial Consortium (ACTC), serves on the Clinical Task Force and Steering Committee for the National Institute of Aging Alzheimer’s Disease Center Program, and also serves as the immediate past Chair of the American Academy of Neurology Geriatric section, and as the current Chair for the International Alzheimer’s Association Clinical Trials Advancement and Methodology Professional Interest Group. His current research interests lie in the areas of preclinical disease states, mild cognitive impairment, vascular contributions to dementia, and clinical trials of disease modifying therapies for degenerative dementias.

Dr. Schmitt received his doctoral degree and completed a fellowship at the University of Akron, Ohio. His clinical interests include biostatistics, dementia, and HIV. Schmitt is the Mary Carter Award recipient for his work with patients with Down syndrome and neurodegenerative disease, and is a nationally and internationally renowned expert on neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer’s disease. He is a principal investigator and consultant on numerous grants from the NIH and other federal and state funding mechanisms. He has over 30 years of clinical experience in neurocognition.