Nicole McKay, PhD

My emerging independent research program strives to understand the complex relationship between brain structure and cognition across healthy aging and dementia, utilizing advanced neuroimaging techniques. In pursuit of this goal, I completed my Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in consultation with Dr. Ian J. Kirk. After graduating, I was recruited as a postdoctoral research associate at Washington University in St. Louis. Here, my research transitioned to focus on clinically relevant questions within the Alzheimer disease and related dementias field. Under the mentorship of Dr. Tammie L. S. Benzinger, I have continued to develop and refine my research interests, and have begun to establish a research program focusing on understanding the relationship between the integrity of white matter structures and novel measures of cognitive performance across older adulthood and the preclinical period of Alzheimer disease. Long-term I hope to establish myself as an independent researcher within this field, specializing in understanding factors that impact the relationship between brain structure and cognition.