Faculty

Dana L Tudorascu, PhD

Dana L Tudorascu, PhD

Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Biostatistics

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email
Website
Study Design and Analysis Group in Psychiatry

Education & Training

PhD
Biostatistics, University of Pittsburgh

Professional Affiliations

Member, American Statistical Association

Research Interests

Neuroimaging studies of age-related pathology; Statistical methods for multimodal imaging studies; Alzheimer's disease
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Chen CL, Son SJ, Schweitzer N, Jin H, Li J, Wang L, Yang S, Hong CH, Roh HW, Park B, Choi JW, An YS, Seo SW, Cho YH, Hong S, Nam YJ, Minhas DS, Laymon CM, Stetten GD, Tudorascu DL, Aizenstein HJ, Wu M; Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Periventricular diffusivity reflects APOE e4-modulated amyloid accumulation and cognitive impairment in the Alzheimer's disease continuum. Alzheimers Dement. 2025 Sep;21(9):e70659. doi: 10.1002/alz.70659.PMID: 40965291
  2. Sjobeck GR, Torbati ME, Minhas DS, DeCarli CS, Wilson JD, Tudorascu DL. NetBat: A network-driven harmonization method for structural connectivity. Neuroimage. 2025 Aug 15;317:121317. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121317. Epub 2025 Jun 23.PMID: 40562325.
  3. Chen CL, Torbati ME, Minhas DS, Laymon C, Hwang SJ, Bilgel M, Crainiceanu A, Luo W, Maillard P, Fletcher E, Crainiceanu CM, DeCarli C, Aizenstein HJ,Tudorascu DL. (2024). Superpixel-ComBat Modeling: A Joint Approach for Harmonization and Characterization of Inter-Scanner Variability in T1-Weighted Images. Imaging Neuroscience (2024) 2: imag-2-00306.
  4. Torbati ME, Minhas DS, Laymon CM, Maillard P, Wilson JD, Chen CL, Crainiceanu CM, DeCarli CS, Hwang SJ, Tudorascu DL. MISPEL: A supervised deep learning harmonization method for multi-scanner neuroimaging data, Med Image Anal 2023 Oct;89:102926.doi: 10.1016/j.media.2023.102926. Epub 2023 Aug 9, PMCID: PMC10529705
  5. Reynolds M, Chaudhary T, Torbati EM, Tudorascu DL, Batmanghelich K for the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. ComBat harmonization: Empirical Bayes versus fully Bayes approaches, NeuroImage Clinical, 2023, ISSN 2213-1582,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103472.

Clinical Interests

Selected Clinical Publications & Products
  1. Kennedy JT, Wisch JK, Dincer A, Roman J, Gordon BA, Handen B, Benzinger TLS, Head E, Mapstone M, Christian BT, Tudorascu DL, Laymon CL, Hartley SL, Lao P, Brickman AM, Zaman SH, Ances BM; ABC-DS and DIAN Consortia. Decoding brain structure to stage Alzheimer's disease pathology in Down syndrome. Alzheimers Dement. 2025 Feb;21(2):e14519. doi: 10.1002/alz.14519. Epub 2025 Jan 14.PMID: 3980762.
  2. Abdelmoity O, Wisch JK, Kennedy JT, Goyal M, Vlassenko A, Flores S, Handen BL, Head E, Keator D, Rafii MS, Lao P, Lai F, Rosas HD, Hartley SL, Zaman S, Brickman AM, Tudorascu D, Lee JH, Allegri RF, Keefe S, la Fougere C, Llibre-Guerra J, Ikeuchi T, Morris JC, Roh JH, Day GS, Levin J, Schofield PR, Gordon BA, Benzinger TLS, Ances BM; Alzheimer's Biomarker Consortium-Down Syndrome and the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network. Cross-Sectional FDG in Down Syndrome and Autosomal Dominant Alzheimer's Disease. Ann Neurol. 2025 Sep 22. doi: 10.1002/ana.78002.
  3. Lao P, Edwards N, Flores-Aguilar L, Alshikho MJ, Smith A, LeMay R, Hahm J, Rizvi B, Tudorascu D, Rosas HD, Yassa M, Christian B, Mapstone M, Handen B; Alzheimer's Biomarkers ConsortiumDown Syndrome (ABC-DS) Investigators; Gutierrez J, Wilcock D, Head E, Brickman AM. Longitudinal changes in white matter hyperintensity volume accelerate across the Alzheimer's continuum in adults with Down syndrome. Alzheimers Dement. 2025 Sep;21(9):e70679. doi: 10.1002/alz.70679.PMID: 40951960
  4. Gogola A, Zeng X, Williams LA, Chapple-McGruder T, Saeed A, Lopresti BJ, Snitz B, Tudorascu D, Minhas D, Ikonomovic MD, Kofler J, Matan C, Pascoal TA, Aizenstein H, Zetterberg H, Blennow K, Lopez O, Villemagne VL, Karikari TK, Cohen AD. Impact of racialization on neuroimaging and plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimers Dement. 2025 Jul;21(7):e70463. doi: 10.1002/alz.70463.PMID: 40631440
  5. Handen BL, Mapstone M, Hartley S, Andrews H, Christian B, Lee JH, Tudorascu D, Hom C, Ances BM, Zaman S, Krinsky-McHale S, Brickman AM, Rosas HD, Cohen A, Petersen M, O'Bryant S, Harp JP, Schmitt F, Ptomey L, Burns J, Lott IT, Lai F, Silverman W, Laymon C, Head E; Alzheimer's Biomarker Consortium Down Syndrome (ABC-DS). The Alzheimers Biomarkers Consortium: A 10-year report. Alzheimers Dement. 2025 May;21(5):e70294. doi: 10.1002/alz.70294.PMID: 40371686

Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Alzheimer's Biomarker Consortium–Down Syndrome (ABC‐DS): A 10‐year Report

Figure from Handen et al. Alzheimer's & Dementia 2025

Over 90% of adults with Down syndrome will be diagnosed with clinical dementia/Alzheimer's disease by their mid-60s. The National Institute on Aging/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-funded Alzheimer's Biomarker Consortium – Down Syndrome (ABC‐DS) has been studying Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome since 2015. A recent paper in Alzheimer’s & Dementia describes the ABC‐DS...

Recent Research on Neural Network Connectivity in Late-Life Depression and Anxiety

Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry: CNNI

Recent papers in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging examine neural connectivity in late-life anxiety and depression. “Together, these two studies highlight the central role of the default mode network—a diverse set of brain regions theorized to integrate our experiences and sense of self—and its relationship with other large-scale brain networks in affective...

Pitt Psychiatry Research Published in Alzheimer's & Dementia

Investigators

Pitt Psychiatry investigators have recently published studies in Alzheimer's & Dementia. Below is a summary of recent original research on neural factors underlying cognitive and depressive symptoms in late life, sleep and rest–activity rhythms across different cognitive aging pathways, and the association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and Alzheimer’s disease. Altered Triple Network Model...

JAMA Network Open: Neuropsychiatric Symptoms and Microglial Activation in Patients with Alzheimer Disease

Image of Brain

Neuropsychiatric symptoms including irritability, nighttime disturbances, and agitation are highly prevalent in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Although neuropsychiatric symptoms are clinically well characterized in individuals with Alzheimer’s, scientists have more to learn regarding these symptoms’ neurobiological underpinnings. Investigators including Cristiano Schaffer Aguzzoli, MD (former Pitt...

The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: White Noise—Is Anxiety in Late-Life Associated With White Matter Hyperintensity Burden?

Drs. Andrew Gerlach and Carmen Andreescu

Anxiety disorders are prevalent in late life, with symptoms including severe (uncontrollable) worry and rumination. Late-life anxiety, worry, and rumination in the context of the aging brain can be associated with differences in volume and thickness of gray matter regions in the brain, as well as altered functional connectivity in the networks involved in emotion generation and regulation, but these changes may...