Assistant Professor in Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Susan Searles Nielsen researches environmental and occupational neuroepidemiology with a focus on understanding the causes of Parkinson’s disease and Parkinsonism.
In her CureAlz-funded work, Dr. Nielsen and her colleagues are forging a new path by using big data to understand risks factors for Alzheimer’s disease using medical claims obtained from Medicare. If successful, her work will provide unique insight into the causes of AD and identify novel, potential disease-modifying therapies from existing drugs that easily could be repurposed to treat Alzheimer’s.