University of California-San Diego · Biomedical EngineeringEpilepsy and Brain Aging Lab
Carrie R Mcdonald · La Jolla, California
Research Focus
Dr. Carrie R. McDonald leads a research lab at UC San Diego focused on understanding the connection between epilepsy and brain aging in older adults. Her lab investigates how cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease are linked to epilepsy, aiming to identify risk factors that can be modified to improve patient outcomes. Through advanced imaging and genetic studies, the research seeks to predict treatment responses in epilepsy and enhance patient care for older adults.
epilepsybrain agingAlzheimer's diseasecognitive declinetreatment resistanceneuroimagingbiomarkersvascular risk factorslongitudinal studiesmachine learning
Research Aims
5AIM 01Investigate cognitive and brain aging trajectories in older adults with epilepsy.
AIM 02Identify genetic and vascular risk factors that contribute to accelerated brain aging.
AIM 03Predict treatment resistance in epilepsy using imaging and genetic data.
AIM 04Examine the impact of epilepsy on the progression to dementia.
AIM 05Explore the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy.
Skills the Lab Values
neuroimaging techniquesbiomarker analysisstatistical modelinglongitudinal study designgenetic risk assessmentcognitive assessmentsdata harmonizationMRI analysisclinical data collectionmachine learning applications
Output against the department
Publications290top 32% of dept.193rd of 595
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations13ktop 28% of dept.164th of 595
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.