Caterina Rosano

Contributions to Public Health

• I am a physician-scientist specializing in Population Neuroscience of Aging. I am especially interested in the neurobiological drivers of successful aging.
• Why am I excited about brain aging? Although older age is typically associated with a seemingly inevitable performance decline, we have evidence that some older adults appear resistant and resilient to the effect of aging. Based on our discoveries, we believe that there are distinct neurobiological characteristics that can explain why some people age better than others and why some people respond to treatment better than others. We also believe that enhancing these neurobiological drivers of resilience can enhance function.
• Why population neuroscience? The combination of neuroscience and population science is critical to capture the complex relationships between the heterogeneity of the individuals on the manifestations of the disease. Our work leverages the most recent methodologies of CNS assessment to “virtually” dissect the brain in vivo using very powerful and novel magnet resonance imaging. Our research inquiries are conducted in the context of carefully designed epidemiological studies.
• What did we discover? We find that the “neurobiological drivers of resilience” appear related to microstructural integrity of brain connections, small vessel and dopaminergic signaling.
• Why is this important? These findings are very important, because such resilience factors are modifiable. For example, we have shown that lower and stable levels of inflammatory markers and blood pressure are critically important for preservation of brain integrity in older age.