Ana Daugherty (dy6149)

Psychology, Institute of Gerontology

• IOG office: 249 Knapp, 87 E. Ferry St.
• Psychology office: 8307.1 Maccabees, 5057 Woodward Ave.
• Laboratory: Suite 9, 100 E. Palmer St.

• Neural cognitive aging
• Lifespan development
• Metabolic and vascular health
• Spatial navigation

Located at the Institute of Gerontology (IOG) in Detroit, the Healthy Brain Aging Laboratory studies metabolic and vascular health factors that shape changes in the brain, memory and thinking functions across the lifespan. We use advanced noninvasive neuroimaging techniques, cognitive assessment, physiological markers and genetics to evaluate individual differences in the course of aging, including both risk (e.g., metabolic syndrome) and protective (e.g., aerobic exercise) health factors.

Dr. Daugherty directs the Detroit Aging Brain Study, which is a community-partnered longitudinal study going on 22 years in the Metro Detroit area to study changes in brain structure and function across the healthy adult lifespan and in risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementia.

Learn more about the Healthy Brain Aging Lab and the Detroit Aging Brain Study.

• The aging brain vs. Alzheimer’s disease

• Daugherty AM. 2021. Hypertension-related risk for dementia: A summary review with future directions. Sem Cell Dev Bio. [Epub 12 Mar 2021]. doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2021.03.002
• Daugherty AM, Chopra T, Korzeniewski S, Levy P. 2020. COVID-19 as a Risk Factor for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia: A Perspective for Future Clinical Research. Psych Res. 294: 113557. [Epub 4 Nov 2020]. doi: 10.1016.j.psychres.2020.113557
• Daugherty AM, Zwilling C, Paul EJ, Sherepa N, Allen C, Kramer AF, Hillman CH, Cohen NJ, Barbey AK. 2018. Multi-modal fitness and cognitive training to enhance fluid intelligence. Intell. 66: 32-43. [Epub 2017 Nov 20]. doi: 10/10116/j.intell.2017.11.001
• Raz N, Daugherty AM. 2018. Pathways to brain aging and their modifiers: free-radical induced energetic and neural decline in senescence (FRIENDS) model. Gerontology. 64(1): 49-57. [Epub 2017 Sep 01]. doi: 10.1159/000479508
• Daugherty AM, Raz N. 2017. Incident risk and progression of cerebral microbleeds in healthy adults: A multi-occasion longitudinal study. Neurobiol Aging. 59: 22-29. [Epub 2017 Jul 18]. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2017.07.003
• Schwarb H, Johnson CL, Daugherty AM, Hillman CH, Kramer AF, Cohen NJ, Barbey AK. 2017. Aerobic fitness effects on hippocampal viscoelasticity and relational memory performance. NeuroImage. 153: 179-188. [Epub 2017 Mar 30]. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.03.061
• Ehlers DK, Daugherty AM, Fanning J, Awick EA, Burzynska A, Chaddock-Heyman L, Kramer AF, McAuley E. 2017. Regional brain volumes moderate, but do not mediate, the effects of group-based exercise training on reductions in loneliness in older adults. Front Aging Neurosci. 9: 110 [Epub 2017 Apr 25]. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2017.00110
• Daugherty AM, Flinn RW, Ofen N. 2017. Age-related differences in CA3-dentate gyrus volume uniquely linked to improvement in associative memory from childhood to adulthood. NeuroImage. 153: 75-85. [Epub 2017 Mar 22]. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.03.047
• Daugherty AM, Raz N. 2017. A virtual water maze revisited: Two-year changes in navigation performance and their neural correlates in healthy adults. NeuroImage 146: 492-506. [Epub 2016 Sep 19]. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.09.044
• Daugherty AM, Bender AR, Raz N, Ofen N. 2016. Age differences in hippocampal subfield volumes from childhood to late adulthood. Hipp 26(2): 220-8. doi: 10.1002/hipo.22517. [Epub 2015 Sep 4]
• Daugherty AM, Raz N. 2016. Accumulation of iron in the putamen predicts its shrinkage in healthy older adults: A multi-occasion longitudinal study. NeuroImage 128: 11-20. [Epub 2015 Dec 30]. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.12.045

For a complete list, visit pubmed.

Dr. Daugherty is an Associate Professor, jointly appointed to the Institute of Gerontology and Department of Psychology. She is affiliated faculty and serves on the steering committee of the Translational Neuroscience Program (School of Medicine).

She is affiliated faculty in the Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, serving co-investigator in the Research Education Component, and the Data Core and Imaging Core.

2015-2018, Postdoctoral Training, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL

2014-2015, Postdoctoral Training, Institute of Gerontology,Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

2011-2014, PhD, Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience), Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

2008-2011, MA, Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience), Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

2003-2007, BS, Neuroscience, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA

Dr. Daugherty directs the Healthy Brain Aging Laboratory that studies health factors and behaviors that shape changes in brain structures and functions across the lifespan. She has a particular interest in metabolic and vascular health, and studies both risk (e.g., hypertension, metabolic syndrome) and protective (e.g., aerobic exercise) factors. Towards this end, her studies include measures of brain structure from MRI, cognitive ability, blood serum biomarkers, genetics, and lifestyle behaviors. She works with adults of all ages, and in collaboration with other laboratories at the IOG, she studies the breadth of the human lifespan from childhood to late adulthood.

She directs the Detorit Aging Brain Study: a community-partnered longitudinal study going on over 22 years in the Metro Detroit area to study changes in brain structure and funcation across the healthy, adult lifespan. 

Learn more abou thte Healthy Brain Aging Lab and the Detroit Aging Brain Study. 

IOG Office: 249 Knapp Building, 87 E Ferry

Psychology Office: 8307.1 Maccabees, 5057 Woodward Ave.

Laboratory: Suite 9, 100 E. Palmer St.

Neural Cognitive Aging, Lifespan Development, Metabolic and Vascular Health, Spatial Navigation, Multimodal Neuroimaging, Structural Equation Modeling and Longitudinal Methods

Lead Instructor

Psychology of Perception: Fundamental Processes (PSY 3040, undergraduate seminar, Fall Semesters)

Functional Neuroanatomy (PSY 8060, graduate seminar with dissection lab, Fall Semesters)

Applied Multivariate Methods in Psychology (PSY 8150, graduate seminar with lab, Winter Semesters)

 Contributing Lecturer

Fundamentals of Neuropsychiatric Disorders (PYC7150, graduate seminar, Fall Semesters)

Fundamentals of Neuroimaging (PYC7140, graduate seminar, Winter Semesters)

Healthy Brain Aging Laboratory

Progressive and cumulative declines in brain structure and function are a hallmark of aging, and in greater severity constitute neurodegenerative disease, such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia. My current research evaluates possible MRI biomarkers of impending cognitive decline, as well as metabolic and vascular health risk factors (e.g., hypertension) and protective lifestyle behaviors (e.g., aerobic exercise) that modify human aging trajectories.

Dr. Daugherty directs the Detroit Aging Brain Study, which is a community-partnered longitudinal study going on 22 years in the Metro Detroit area to study changes in brain structure and function across the healthy, adult lifespan.

To learn more about the Healthy Brain Aging Lab and the Detroit Aging Brain Study: https://www.agingbrain.wayne.edu

Disease/Disorder

Brain structure and function in aging.

Species

Human

Methods

Structural MRI; neuropsychological testing; cardiovascular health assessment.

Key Collaborators

Naftali Raz, Jeff Stanley, Jeske Damoiseaux, Noa Ofen, Nora Fritz