Area of Expertise: Alzheimer’s Disease
Suzanne Craft, PhD
Professor of Internal Medicine, Section on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine; Research Director of the J. Paul Sticht Center on Aging; and Co-director of the Roena B. Kulynych Center for Memory and Cognition Research
Craft is a neuropsychologist with specialization in neuroendocrinology and neuroscience. Her research has focused on the role of neuroendocrine abnormalities in the development and expression of Alzheimer’s disease. This original line of work has garnered international attention, and Craft is recognized as a leading authority on the role of insulin metabolism in Alzheimer’s disease and aging. Her research recently has been expanded to examine the role of insulin in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s.
Craft received a $7.9 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant in 2011 to lead a multi-center study investigating the use of intranasal insulin in individuals with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s dementia. It was one of two projects selected by the NIH as part of the National Alzheimer’s Plan, a federal initiative to find an effective way to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s by 2025.
Craft’s honors and awards include a MERIT Award from the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2010 Zenith Award. She also has been Pfizer Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins University and was a featured scientist in the HBO documentary series “The Alzheimer’s Project.” In addition to her extensive research and numerous publications, Craft serves on a number of editorial boards and national review panels and committees.
Area of Expertise: Addiction Research
Michael A. Nader, PhD
Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology
Nader is an expert on how drug abuse affects the brain. For nearly 30 years, Nader has studied cocaine addiction with grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. His team’s research is unique because Wake Forest's non-human primates self-administer drugs and live in social groups. This allows researchers to study how the reinforcing actions of cocaine affect social behavior and the brain. Nader's research combines positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to examine levels of dopamine and nicotine receptor activity, as well as glucose activity in the brain. His group has examined sex differences in vulnerability to cocaine abuse and found significant differences in how social rank (being dominant or subordinate) affects brain function and cocaine reinforcement in males and females. Nader and colleagues are looking at the effect of long-term cocaine use on dopamine receptors, behavior, brain function and cognition. His goal is to identify drugs that not only fight cocaine addiction but also enhance cognitive performance.