Boston University | Alzheimer's Disease Center | Our Team | Faculty

Angela L. Jefferson, PhD

Associate Professor of Neurology Director, ADCRP Predoctoral Training Director, ADC Education & Information Transfer Core

Phone: 617.414.1129

Fax: 617.414.1197
Email: angelaj@bu.edu
Location: Robinson – Suite 7800

Background

Dr. Angela Jefferson completed her undergraduate studies in psychology at Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia. She earned a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland and a doctoral degree in clinical neuropsychology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Jefferson completed her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship in neuropsychology within the Clinical Psychology Training Consortium at Brown Medical School. Dr. Jefferson joined the Boston University School of Medicine's Department of Neurology faculty in July 2005. She is a member of the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute with a joint appointment in the Department of Medicine (Geriatrics).

Research Interests

Dr. Jefferson’s primary research interests are focused on elucidating unrecognized vascular risk factors for accelerating abnormal cognitive aging, including mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. These interests include examining relations between cardiac function and brain aging, the clinical and cognitive correlates of white matter disease, and neurogenetics of vascular disease and mild cognitive impairment. Dr. Jefferson is also interested in the identification and quantification of early higher-order functional decline in mild cognitive impairment and pre-clinical dementia.

ADC Role

Dr. Jefferson is Director of the ADC Education and Information Transfer Core, the Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Clinical & Research Program (ADCRP) Pre-doctoral Training, the Director of the PAIRS Program, and Co-Director of the neuropsychology fellowship program. She serves as a neuropsychologist for the ADC parent study (HOPE).

Dr. Jefferson is principal investigator of an Alzheimer's Association-funded study, which examines relations between cardiac function and abnormal brain aging among individuals with mild cognitive impairment. Dr. Jefferson is also a recipient of the NIA-funded Paul B. Beeson Career Development in Aging Award, which protects a significant amount of her professional time for career growth and research development. Through multiple collaobrations with the Framingham Heart Study, New England Centenarian Study, and the BU ADC, Dr. Jefferson is using resources from this award to conduct several multidisciplinary clinical and epidemiological studies to better understand relations between cardiac dysfunction and maladaptive brain aging.

Awards/Memberships

Dr. Jefferson is a member of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS), the International Society for Vascular Behavioral and Cognitive Disorders (Vas-Cog), the Society of Neuroscience (SFN), the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS), and the Massachusetts Neuropsychological Association (MNA). She is an affiliate of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Psychological Association Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology), and the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN).

Representative Publications

Jefferson AL, Holland CM, Tate DF, Csapo I, Poppas A, Cohen RA, Guttmann CRG. Atlas-derived perfusion correlates of white matter hyperintensities in patients with reduced cardiac output. Neurobiology of Aging, 2009; doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2009.01.011. [PDF]

Jefferson AL, Lambe S, Moser DJ, Byerly LK, Ozonoff A, Karlawish JT, Decisional capacity for research participation in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2008; 56: 1236-1243 . [PDF]

Jefferson AL, Byerly LK, Vanderhill S, Lambe S, Wong S, Ozonoff A, Karlawish JT. Characterization of activities of daily living in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2008; 16(5): 375-383. [PDF]

Jefferson AL, Wong S, Gracer TS, Ozonoff A, Green RC, Stern RA. Geriatric performances on the Boston Naming Test-30 item even version. Applied Neuropsychology, 2007; 14(3): 215-223. [PDF]

Jefferson AL, Tate DF, Poppas A, Brickman, AM, Paul RH, Gunstad J, Cohen RA. Lower cardiac output is associated with greater white matter hyperintensities in older adults with cardiovascular disease. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2007; 55:1044-1048. [PDF]

Jefferson AL, Poppas A, Paul RH, Cohen RA. Systemic hypoperfusion is associated with executive dysfunction in geriatric cardiac patients. Neurobiology of Aging, 2007; 28(3):477-483. [PDF]

Jefferson AL, Massaro JM, Larson MG, Wolf PA, Au R, D’Agostino RB, Seshadri S, Lipinska I, Meigs JB, Keaney Jr. JF, Vasan RS, Benjamin EJ, DeCarli C. Inflammatory biomarkers are associated with total brain volume: The Framingham Heart Study. Neurology, 2007; 68:1032-1038. [PDF]

Hoth KF, Tate DF, Poppas A, Gunstad J, Forman D, Moser DJ, Paul RH, Jefferson AL, Haley A, Cohen RA. Endothelial dysfunction is associated with cerebral white matter hyperintensities in older adults with cardiovascular disease. Stroke, 2007; 38(2):308-312. [PDF]

Jefferson AL, Glosser G, Detre JA, Sinson G, Liebeskind DS. Neuropsychological and perfusion MRI correlates of revascularization in a case of moyamoya syndrome. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 2006; 27(1):98-100. [PDF]

Jefferson AL, Paul RH, Ozonoff A, Cohen RA. Evaluating elements of executive functioning as predictors of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 2006; 21(4): 311-320. [PDF]

Jefferson AL, Wong S, Bolen E, Ozonoff A, Green RC, Stern RA. Cognitive predictors of HVOT performance differ between individuals with mild cognitive impairment and normal controls. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 2006; 21:405-412. [PDF].

Jefferson AL, Cahn-Weiner D, Boyle PA, Paul RH, Gordon N, Moser D, Cohen RA. Cognitive predictors of changes in activities of daily living among patients with vascular dementia. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2006; 21(8): 752-754. [PDF]

Jefferson AL, Barakat LP, Giovannetti T, Paul RH, Glosser G. Object perception impairments predict instrumental activities of daily living in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Clinical & Experimental Neuropsychology, 2006; 28(6): 884-897. [PDF]

Price CC, Jefferson AL, Merino JG, Heilman KM, Libon DJ. Subcortical vascular dementia: Integrating neuropsychological and neuroradiologic data. Neurology, 2005; 65(3): 376-382. [PDF]

Jefferson AL, Cosentino SA, Ball SK, Bogdanoff B, Leopold N, Kaplan E, Libon DJ. Errors produced on the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) and neuropsychological test performance among patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Ischemic Vascular Dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Neuropsychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences, 2002;14(3):311-320. [PDF]

View Dr. Jefferson’s biosketch

This Site