Jesse Mez, M.D., M.S.

Associate Professor of Neurology

Alzheimer’s Disease Center Clinical Core Associate Director

Phone: (617) 638-5426
Fax: (617) 414-1197
Email: jessemez@bu.edu
Location: 72 E. concord Street, Robinson Complex, Suite 7800

Background:

Dr. Mez completed his undergraduate studies at Cornell University and earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He completed residency training in Neurology at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals. He completed a clinical fellowship in Aging and Dementia and a research fellowship in Neuroepidemiology at Columbia University. During fellowship training, he also earned a Masters in Biostatistics with a focus on Statistical Genetics from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia. In 2013, he became an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine. He is a member of the BU Alzheimer’s Center and CTE Center. He is an associate editor for the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. He cares for patients with memory and other cognitive and behavioral disorders.

Research Interests:

Dr. Mez’s research focuses on the application of statistical genetics and genetic epidemiology to various forms of dementia. He is particularly interested in the role of genetic and non-genetic factors in atypical clinical presentations of Alzheimer’s disease. He also is interested in how the interaction of genetic risk factors and trauma influence dementia risk. He is mentored by Lindsay Farrer, Ph.D., head of the Biomedical Genetics Division in the Department of Medicine  and works closely with division members.

CTE Center Role:

Dr. Mez interviews family members and other caregivers of deceased athletes who donate their brains to our center. The thorough medical history that he obtains is crucial for research on risk factors, clinical course and clinicopathologic correlation.

ADC Role:

Dr. Mez is a member of the ADC’s Clinical Core.  He helps make clinical consensus diagnoses for ADC participants. He also provides clinical evaluations for ADC clinical trials.

Awards/Memberships:

Dr. Mez received the 2013-2014 BU ADC Pilot Grant. He is a recipient of the NIH Loan Repayment Program.  He is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Society of Human Genetics, the International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment and the Society for Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology

Publications:

Mez J*, Mukherjee S*, Thornton T, Fardo D, Trittschuh E, Waterston L, Sherva R, Kauwe K, Naj AC, Beecham GW, Gross A, Saykin AJ, Green RC, Crane P. Genome-wide SNP analysis of executive-prominent late-onset Alzheimer’s disease is highly heritable. (submitted) *joint first authors

Mez J, Stern RA, McKee AC. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: Where Are We and Where Are We Going? Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2013 Dec 1;13(12):1–12.

Mez J, Cosentino S, Brickman AM, Huey ED, Mayeux R. Different Demographic, Genetic, and Longitudinal Traits in Language versus Memory Alzheimer’s Subgroups. J Alzheimers Dis JAD. 2013 Jun 20.

Mez J, Cosentino S, Brickman AM, Huey ED, Manly JJ, Mayeux R. Faster cognitive and functional decline in Dysexecutive versus amnestic Alzheimer’s subgroups: a longitudinal analysis of the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) database. PloS One. 2013;8(6):e65246.

Mez J, Cosentino S, Brickman AM, Huey ED, Manly JJ, Mayeux R . Dysexecutive versus amnestic Alzheimer disease subgroups: analysis of demographic, genetic, and vascular factors. Alzheimer Dis. Assoc. Disord. 27, 218–225. 2013.

Huey, ED, Manly JJ, Tang M, Schupf N, Brickman AM, Manoochehri M, Mez J, DeCarli C, Devanand DP, Mayeux R. Course and etiology of dysexecutive MCI in a community sample. Alzheimers Dement. J. Alzheimers Assoc. 2013 Feb 26.

Sheikh SI, Vaitkevicius H, Mez J, Diamond EL. Meningitis associated with sphenoid sinus encephalocoele. Pract Neurol. 2010 Feb;10(1):43-4.

Mez J, Cole JW, Howard TD, Macclellan LR, Stine OC, O’Connell JR, Wozniak MA, Stern BJ, Sorkin JD, Mitchell BD, Kittner SJ. Evaluation of self-reported ethnicity in a case-control population: the stroke prevention in young women study. BMC Res Notes. 2009 Dec 18;2:260.

Karkera JD, Lee JS, Roessler E, Banerjee-Basu S, Ouspenskaia MV, Mez J, Goldmuntz E, Bowers P, Towbin J, Belmont JW, Baxevanis AD, Schier AF, Muenke M. Loss-of-function mutations in growth differentiation factor-1 (GDF1) are associated with congenital heart defects in humans. Am J Hum Genet. 2007 Nov;81(5):987-94.

Goti D*, Katzen SM*, Mez J*, Kurtis N, Kiluk J, Ben-Haiem L, Jenkins NA, Copeland NG, Kakizuka A, Sharp AH, Ross CA, Mouton PR, Colomer V. A mutant atxin-3 putative-cleavage fragment in brains of Machado-Joseph disease patients and transgenic mice is cytotoxic above a critical concentration. J Neurosci. 2004 Nov 10;24(45):10266-79. *joint first authors