JHU & UMB

The MarkVCID study at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is led by Drs. Hanzhang Lu and Marilyn Albert. Dr. Lu has substantial expertise in brain MRI technologies, in particular related to cerebral physiology and their applications in aging and neurodegeneration. Dr. Marilyn Albert is an expert in cognitive and brain changes associated with aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), including biomarkers for early identification of AD.

The MarkVCID study at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is led by Dr. Peiying Liu. Dr. Liu has extensive expertise in brain MRI technologies, especially in mapping cerebrovascular reactivity and other brain physiologic parameters. Dr. Liu is assisted by Dr. Linda Chang in this study, who has a long track record of using neuroimaging techniques to study various dementia syndromes in relation to cognitive/behavioral outcomes and to CSF or genetic biomarkers.

Study Recruitment

Johns Hopkins University is located in Baltimore City, Maryland. Together with the UMB site, the research teams will seek to recruit members of the diverse population in the Baltimore/DC metropolitan area and its surroundings. Our goal with UMB is to recruit 200 study participants over the next two years. Research participants will be recruited via the Johns Hopkins Memory and Geriatric Clinics and the Diabetes Clinic. The research team will also actively recruit from the community, including senior centers, health fairs, and other related venues. We will make special efforts to enroll African American participants.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore, located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, is a recruitment site of the MarkVCID JHU/UMB program. Research participants will be recruited from the University of Maryland Medical System and through community outreach. A unique aspect of the UMB site is that approximately 60% of our participants are African American, contributing to the recruitment of a diverse cohort for the MarkVCID Consortium.

Study Members

JHU

Hanzhang Lu
Professor of Radiology

Marilyn Albert
Professor of Neurology

Kaisha Hazel
Research Associate

George Pottanat
Sr. Research Coordinator

Dengrong Jiang
Assistant Professor of Radiology

Wen Shi
PhD Candidate

Ebony Jones
Research Coordinator

Cuimei Xu
Research Assistant

Sevil Yasar
Associate Professor of Medicine

Abhay Moghekar
Associate Professor of Neurology

Paul Rosenberg
Professor of Psychiatry

Rita Kalyani
Associate Professor of Medicine

UMB

Peiying Liu, PhD
Professor of Radiology

Linda Chang, MD
Professor of Radiology

Study Team members (left to right): 
Fariba Badrzadeh, MD 
Yuecan Jin, MS 
Beini Hu, MS 
Lori Donaldson, MS 
Huajun Liang, PhD 
Stephanie El Omeiri, MD 
Mahsa Mayeli, MD