Dr. William Jagust is a distinguished neuroscientist whose pioneering work has significantly advanced our understanding of brain aging and neurodegenerative disorders. He currently serves as Professor of Public Health and Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley and holds a Faculty Senior Scientist position at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. After earning his BA in Psychology from Reed College in 1974 and his MD from The State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1978, he completed his neurology residency at Boston University Medical Center. Dr. Jagust joined UC Berkeley in 2004, bringing extensive experience from his previous role as Chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of California, Davis, where he established himself as a leading authority in cognitive neuroscience and aging research.
Dr. Jagust's groundbreaking research employs multimodal imaging techniques including positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging to elucidate the biological underpinnings of normal brain aging and Alzheimer's disease. As Principal Investigator of the Berkeley Aging Cohort Study and leader of the PET Core for the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, he has pioneered methods to track the progressive accumulation of beta-amyloid and tau proteins in the living brain, demonstrating how these pathological changes correlate with cognitive decline. His seminal 2013 work that earned him the prestigious Potamkin Prize fundamentally transformed our understanding of Alzheimer's disease progression, revealing how PET scans can detect early pathological changes in cognitively normal adults. With over 149,000 citations, his research has established critical biomarkers that are now widely used in clinical trials and diagnostic protocols worldwide.
Beyond his individual research contributions, Dr. Jagust has been instrumental in shaping the global research agenda for Alzheimer's disease through his leadership of major multicenter initiatives including ADNI, SCAN, POINTER Imaging, and HEAD. His laboratory serves as the core imaging analysis center for these collaborative efforts, setting methodological standards that have advanced the field's ability to quantify pathological brain changes. Recent work from his lab has revealed promising connections between sleep quality deterioration and subsequent accumulation of Alzheimer's-related proteins, suggesting potential early intervention strategies. Currently investigating the role of blood-brain barrier degradation in dementia pathogenesis following his 2018 Radical Ideas in Brain Science Challenge award, Dr. Jagust continues to mentor the next generation of neuroscientists through his teaching of courses on the aging brain and Alzheimer's disease, ensuring his innovative approaches will influence the field for decades to come.
