Sensory and Physical Function Associate with Cognition and Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias Across the Lifespan

While striving to provide excellent clinical care, I also have several research interests:

1. Establish novel diagnostic biomarkers along with new therapeutic targets in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and comorbid Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy. I currently serve as the Associate Biomarker Core lead in the Duke-UNC Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC). I am also the site Principal Investigator (PI) of a Biogen sponsored phase 2 clinical trial, CELIA (BIIB080), that targets AD-related tau through an Anti-sense oligonucleotide (ASO) mechanism. Additionally, I am the site PI of the ALNYLAM sponsored phase 2 clinical trial. This trial knocks down the expression of APP through an ASO mechanism to potentially treat Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy (CAA).

2. Investigate a neurodevelopmental disorder, Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), which has the potential to provide insight into the pathophysiological mechanism of AD-related tau. I have published several papers on this subject and am currently the PI of the Ann B. Bussell award that is following TSC patients longitudinally to determine if TSC is an AD-related tauopathy. 

3. I am interested discovering new biomarkers to diagnose various neurodegenerative diseases. I am a co-Investigator with NCCU colleagues. We have published several new tau epitopes as potential biomarkers in diagnosing AD at earlier stages and have applied for several government funding mechanisms to continue this work. 

Dr. Whitson is a geriatrician, memory care specialist, and clinical researcher.  Her career is focused on improving care options and resilience for people with multiple chronic conditions.  In particular, she has interest and expertise related to how aging biology and comorbidities impact brain health and risk for Alzheimer's disease. She is co-director of the Duke/UNC Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (Duke/UNC ADRC), which aims to transform dementia care and research in Eastern North Carolina while developing novel preventions and treatment strategies for Alzheimer's disease by identifying aging-related factors across the lifespan that drive risk, progression, or experience of dementia. The Duke/UNC ADRC conducts the Memory and Aging Study, which is tracking brain and cognitive changes in over 400 individuals at risk for dementia in later life.  Dr. Whitson also co-Chairs the Alzheimer's Association's Clinical Practice Guideline panel for the use of blood-based biomarkers in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. As a thought leader in a national collaborative focused on the biomedical aspects of resilience, Dr. Whitson seeks to better understand biological, psychological, and contextual factors that determine how well we "bounce back" after acute health stressors and why our resilience capacity changes with age. Dr. Whitson has contributed to work examining resilience to many types of health stressors, including surgery, dialysis, infection, vascular events, and vision loss - often focused on how these stressors affect the brain.  She has led multiple studies to examine how the aging brain responds to the late-life stressor of vision loss, and she has developed a rehabilitation model to improve independence in older adults living with comorbid impairments in vision and cognition.