Professor
Director: Multicultural Alzheimer’s Prevention & Protection (MAPP) Lab
Dr. Quiroz is Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Boston University, where she leads the Multicultural Alzheimer’s Prevention & Protection (MAPP) Lab. She previously served as Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and spent over a decade at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) directing innovative clinical and research initiatives. Dr. Quiroz earned her MA in cognitive neuroscience and PhD in clinical psychology from Boston University and completed specialized postdoctoral training in neuropsychology and neuroimaging at MGH/Harvard Medical School.
Her research focuses on identifying early cognitive and biological markers of Alzheimer’s disease and uncovering mechanisms that support cognitive resilience and delay dementia onset. For over 20 years, she has studied Colombian families with early-onset autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease (ADAD) caused by mutations in the Presenilin-1(PSEN1) gene. With near-complete penetrance and symptom onset in the forties, these families offer a rare opportunity to track the biological trajectory of AD from preclinical to clinical stages—and to investigate protective mechanisms in individuals who remain cognitively resilient despite carrying the mutation.
Dr. Quiroz leads multiple NIH-funded studies, including the Colombia-Boston (COLBOS) biomarker study of autosomal-dominant Alzheimer’s disease, the Boston Latino Aging Study (BLAST), and the Healthy Aging and Resilient Brain Study on genetic modifiers of cognitive resilience. She is also a Co-Investigator on the Harvard Aging Brain Study (HABS) and the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC).
Dr. Quiroz’s work has earned national and international recognition, including the NIH Director’s Pioneer Early Independence Award, the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) Early Career Award, and the Alzheimer’s Association’s Inge Grundke-Iqbal Award for most impactful research.
Information on Dr. Quiroz’s research publications can be found at the US National Library of Medicine.