Kacie Deters, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology
About
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
DREAM-LA Project
Email: kdeters@g.ucla.edu
Biography
Dr. Kacie Deters earned her Bachelor's in Biology from the University of Alabama, Birmingham and her Master's in Biology from CSU Dominguez Hills. Science turned into a passion Kacie wanted to explore more. In 2017, she earned her Ph.D. in Medical Neuroscience at the Indiana University School of Medicine focusing on genetic and imaging characteristics of tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s disease. During her postdoc at Stanford University with Dr. Elizabeth Mormino, she first began to explore ethnic and racial disparities in AD biomarkers. COVID hit, and Kacie decided to take a second postdoc, which she completed in 2022 at the University of California, San Diego while figuring out what career path she wanted to take. Ultimately, Kacie wanted to give back to the community and support minoritized scientists, and Kacie joined UCLA as faculty in July of 2022 where her research program focuses on health equity research for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in older adults, primarily from the Black community.
Specialty
Alzheimer's Disease
Affiliations
Education and Degrees
B.S., Biology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL
M.S., Biology, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA
Ph.D., Medial Neuroscience, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN
Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Honors and Awards (Selected)
2010-2012--Bridge to the Doctorate, National Institute of Health
2011--Best Poster Presentation, CSUDH Student Research Day
2014--American Society of Human Genetics Conference Travel Award, FASEB MARC Program
2015--Alzheimer’s Imaging Consortium Travel Fellowship, Alzheimer’s Association
2015--Neuroscience Scholars Program Associate
2015--Trainee Professional Development Award, Society for Neuroscience
2015--SPINES Neuroscience Symposium Travel Award
2015--Larry Kays Fellowship, Indiana University School of Medicine
2016--Alzheimer’s Association International Conference Travel Fellowship, Alzheimer’s Association
2018--Alzheimer’s Association International Conference Travel Fellowship, Alzheimer’s Association
2018--Travel Fellowship for African American Participation in AD Workshop, Alzheimer’s Association
2018--New Vision Investigator Award Nominee, Charleston Conference on AD
2018--Best Poster, Aetiology and Prevention in Musculoskeletal and Neurodegenerative Disease
2020--Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Next Generation in Biomedicine Symposium
2021--Butler-Williams Scholar, National Institute on Aging (NIA)
2022--The UC San Diego Leading the Advancement of Neuroscientists for Change (LAUNCH) Program
2023--AAIC Neuroscience Next “One to Watch” Award
2023--Turken Research Award
Publications
Deters KD, Risacher SL, Farlow MR, Unverzagt FW, Kareken DA, Hutchins GD, Yoder KK, Murrell JR, Spina S, Epperson F, Gao S, Saykin AJ, and Ghetti B. Cerebral hypometabolism and grey matter density in MAPT intron 10 + 3 MAPT mutation carriers. American Journal of Neurodegenerative Disease. 2014 Dec 5; 3(3): 103-114. PMID: 25628962; PMCID: PMC4299725
Deters KD*, Risacher SL*, Yoder KK, Oblak AL, Unverzagt FW, Murrell JR, Epperson F, Tallman EF, Quaid KA, Farlow MR, Saykin AJ, and Ghetti B. [11-C]PiB PET in Gerstmann–Sträussler–Scheinker Disease. American Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. 2016 Jan 28; 6(1):84-93. *Dual first authors. PMID: 27069768; PMCID: PMC4749507
Deters KD, Nho K, Risacher SL, Kim S, Ramanan V, Crane PK, Apostolova LG, Saykin AJ, and the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Genome-wide association study of language performance in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain & Language. 2017 Sep; doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2017.04.008. PMID: 28577822; PMCID: PMC5583024
Deters KD, Risacher SL, Kim S, Nho K, West JD, Blennow K, Zetterberg H, Shaw L, Trojanowski J, Weiner MW, and Saykin AJ for the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Plasma tau association with brain atrophy in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 2017; doi: 10.3233/JAD-161114. PMID: 28550246; PMCID: PMC5523909
Avila JF, Rentería MA, Jones RN, Vonk JM, Turney I, Sol K, Nika Seblova N, Arias F, Hill-Jarrett T, Levy SA, Meyer O, Racine AM, Tom SE, Melrose RJ, Deters K, Medina LD, Carrión CI, Díaz-Santos M, Byrd DR, Chesebro A, Colon J, Igwe KC, Maas B, Brickman AM, Schupf N, Mayeux R, and Jennifer Manly J. Education Differentially Contributes to Cognitive Reserve Across Racial/Ethnic Groups. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2021 Jan; https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12176. PMID: 32827354; PMCID: PMC8376080
Belloy ME, Eger SJ, Leguen Y, Napolioni V, Deters KD, Yang HS, Scelsi MA, Porter T, James SN, Wong A, Schott JM, Sperling RA, Laws SM, Mormino EC, He Z, Han SS, Altmann A, and Greicius MD. KL-VS Heterozygosity Reduces Brain Amyloid in Pre-Symptomatic APOE4 Carriers. Neurobiology of Aging. 2021 May; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.01.008. PMID: 33610961; PMCID: PMC8122023
Deters KD, Mormino EC, Yu L, Lutz M, Bennett DA, and Barnes LL. TOMM40-APOE haplotypes are associated with cognitive decline in non-demented Blacks. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2021 Aug; doi: 10.1002/alz.12295. PMID: 33580752; PMCID: PMC8855738
Deters KD, Napolioni V, Sperling RA, Greicius MD, Mayeux R, Hohman T, and Mormino EC. Amyloid PET imaging in self-identified non-Hispanic Blacks from the Anti-Amyloid in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s Disease (A4) Study. Neurology. 2021 Mar 16; doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000011599. Highlighted with an editorial. PMID: 33568538; PMCID: PMC8032379
Winer JR, Deters KD, Kennedy G, Jin M, Goldstein-Piekarski A, Poston KL, Mormino EC. Short and long sleep duration are associated with distinct aging pathways. JAMA Neurol. 2021 Aug 30; doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2021.2876. PMID: 34459862; PMCID: PMC8406215
Wang X, Broce, I, Deters KD, Fan CC, Banks SJ. Identification of sex-specific genetic variants associated with tau PET. Neurol Genet. 2022 Dec 8; doi: 10.1212/NXG.0000000000200043. PMID: 36530928; PMCID: PMC9756308
Wang X, Broce-Diaz I, Qiu Y, Deters KD, Fan CC, Dale AM, Edland ST, Banks SJ, and for the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. A simple genetic stratification method for lower cost, more expedient clinical trials in early Alzheimer's disease: A preliminary study of Tau PET and cognitive outcomes. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2023 Jan 6; doi: 10.1002/alz.12952. PMID: 36701211; PMCID: PMC10368787
Robinson T, Klinger H, Buckley R, Deters KD, Quiroz Y, Rentz D, Rabin JS, Sperling R, Amariglio R. Evaluation of ethnoracial differences in self- and study partner-reported subjective cognitive decline in the A4 study screen data. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2023 May 23; doi: 10.1002/alz.13138. PMID: 37218387; PMCID: PMC10524317
Arce Renteria M, Mobley TM, Evangelista ND, Medina LD, Deters KD, Fox-Fuller JT, Avila-Rieger, Bettcher BM. Representativeness of Samples Enrolled in Alzheimer’s Disease Centers. Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring. 2023 Jun 5; doi: 10.1002/dad2.12450. PMID: 37287650; PMCID: PMC10242202
Adkins-Jackson PB, Kraal AZ, Hill-Jarrett TG, George KM, Deters KD, Besser LM, Avila-Rieger JF, Turney I, Manly JJ. Riding the merry-go-round of racial disparities in ADRD research. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2023 Jul 3; doi: 10.1002/alz.13359. PMID: 37394968