Keith Vossel, M.D., M.Sc.
Director, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center - Biomarkers in Neurodegenerative Diseases (ADRC-BIND)
About
Michael M. Minchin, Jr., President, J.D. French Alzheimer’s Foundation Endowed Chair
Director, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center - Biomarkers in Neurodegenerative Diseases (ADRC-BIND)
Director, Dementia Research, Education, and Advancement in Los Angeles (DREAM-LA)
Professor, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer's Research and Care at UCLA
710 Westwood Plaza, Room C-224
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1769
Tel: (310) 794-3665
Email: kvossel@mednet.ucla.edu
UCLA Memory Clinic
Clinic Appts: (310) 794-1195 {Memory Evaluation}
Clinic Fax: (310) 794-7491
Biography
Dr. Keith Vossel is the Michael M. Minchin, Jr., President, J.D. French Alzheimer’s Foundation Endowed Chair, Professor of Neurology, and Director of the Katherine and Benjamin Kagan Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment Development Program in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He leads a comprehensive Center incorporating outreach and engagement to diverse communities, electronic health records, social determinants of health, neuroimaging, neurophysiology, genetics, preclinical and clinical trials, and clinical care to develop new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and achieve equity in recognition and care of dementia.
Dr. Vossel received a master’s degree in biomedical engineering and medical degree with highest honors from the University of Tennessee. He completed neurology residency at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he served as a chief resident. Dr. Vossel completed fellowship training in behavioral neurology and dementia research at the University of California, San Francisco and Gladstone Institutes.
Dr. Vossel investigates Alzheimer's disease and related dementias with a focus on brain rhythm abnormalities and translational therapies. Key discoveries include the presence of silent epileptic activity, occurring during sleep and accelerating cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease, effects of amyloid-β and tau deposition on brain rhythms and related cognitive impairments in Alzheimer’s disease, and novel pathological functions of tau in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. Dr. Vossel led a phase 2a clinical trial showing that low doses of an antiseizure drug can improve memory and problem solving in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and detectable epileptic activity. Dr. Vossel is broadening these studies in Greater Los Angeles and incorporating them into the expanded activities of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in the UCLA Easton Center.
The Center has begun an intensive effort to improve recognition of dementia in primary care, including brain health screening tools in the electronic health records, and to improve diversity of patient referrals to Memory Clinic and clinical trials. The Center focuses on health equity, diversity, and inclusion and acknowledges the structural determinants of health and social inequities, and the impact they have on brain health, Alzheimer’s risk, prevalence, and longevity post-diagnosis.
Dr. Vossel has written Op-Eds for the Los Angeles Times and has been featured in numerous national and international media outlets including CNN, NPR, The Washington Post, Financial Times, USA Today, STAT, Boston Globe, Daily Mail, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, FOX 11 LA, CBS 2 and KCAL News, KNBC-LA and NBC Channel 4 News, KNX News Radio in LA, Doctor Radio on Sirius XM Radio, and Spectrum News 1 SoCal. Dr. Vossel has received the John Douglas French Alzheimer's Distinguished Research Scholar Award, a Part the Cloud Translational Research Award from the Alzheimer's Association, the Bernese Epilepsy Award from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and the Outstanding Health Care Innovator Award from the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Specialty
Behavioral Neurology, Alzheimer's Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Early-onset Dementia, Epilepsy.
Board Certifications
American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry
Professional Organizations
Member, Society of Neuroscience
Fellow, American Neurological Association
Member, American Academy of Neurology
Affiliations
Katherine and Benjamin Kagan Alzheimer's Disease Treatment Development Program
California Alzheimer's Disease Center (CADC)
John Douglas French Alzheimer's Foundation
Education and Degrees
B.S., Engineering Science and Mechanics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
M.Sc., Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Memphis, TN, and University of Memphis, TN
M.D., University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Memphis, TN (Highest Honors)
Internship, Medicine, Harvard Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
Residency and Chief Resident, Neurology, Harvard Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital
Fellowship, Behavioral Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, Memory and Aging Center
Fellowship, Neurodegenerative Disease, J. David Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA
Awards and Honors
2023 -- Outstanding Health Care Innovator, Los Angeles Business Journal
2022 -- Bernese Epilepsy Award, University of Bern, Switzerland
2018 -- Wallin Neuroscience Discovery Fund Award
2013 -- Outstanding Faculty Mentorship Award Nominee, UCSF Postdoctoral Scholars Association
2011 -- Paul B. Beeson Career Development Award in Aging Research (K23), NIH/NIA, American Federation for Aging Research, and John A. Hartford Foundation
2011 -- Distinguished Research Scholar Award, John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation
2010 -- Alzheimer’s Association Award for Excellence in Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders
2009 -- Achievement Award in Behavioral Neurology, UCSF Memory and Aging Center
2009 -- Peter McBean Fellowship in Alzheimer's Research, Gladstone/UCSF
2009 -- Pilot Research Award in Basic and Clinical/Translational Sciences, UCSF Resource Allocation Program and NIH/NIA
2006 -- Partners in Excellence Award, Partners Healthcare
2003 -- Alpha Omega Alpha Distinguished Graduate Award, UT, Memphis College of Medicine
2003 -- Medical Student Prize for Excellence in Neurology, American Academy of Neurology
2002 -- Alpha Omega Alpha, National Medical Honor Society, UT, Memphis College of Medicine
2002 -- Joseph Collins Foundation Scholarship, UT, Memphis College of Medicine
2001-- Gooch Scholarship for Academic Achievement, UT, Memphis College of Medicine
Publications
Falgàs N, Walsh CW, Yack L, Simon AJ, Kramer JH, Rosen H, Rabinovici G, Miller B, Spina S, Seeley WW, Ranasinghe K, Vossel K, Neylan TC, Grinberg LT. Alzheimer's Disease phenotypes show different sleep architecture. Alzheimer’s and Dementia 2023 Feb 7. doi: 10.1002/alz.12963.
Hwang K, Vaknalli R, Addo-Osafo K, Vicente M, Vossel K. Tauopathy and Epilepsy Comorbidities and Underlying Mechanisms. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 2022, 14:903973. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.903973. PMCID: PMC9340804
Ranasinghe KG, Verma P, Cai C, Xie X, Kudo K, Gao X, Lerner H, Mizuiri D, Strom A, Iaccarino L, La Joie R, Miller BL, Gorno-Tempini ML, Rankin KP, Jagust WJ, Vossel K, Rabinovici GD, Raj A, Nagarajan SS. Altered excitatory and inhibitory neuronal subpopulation parameters are distinctly associated with tau and amyloid in Alzheimer’s disease. ELife 2022, 11:e77850. doi: 10.7554/eLife.77850. PMCID: PMC9217132
Oh JY, Walsh CM, Ranasinghe K, Mladinov M, Pereira FL, Petersen C, Falgàs N, Ruoff L, Lamore T, Nasar R, Lew C, Li S, Metzler T, Coppola Q, Pandher N, Le M, Heuer HW, Heinsen H, Spina S, Seeley WW, Kramer J, Rabinovici GD, Boxer AL, Miller BL, Vossel K, Neylan TC, Grinberg LT. Subcortical neuronal correlates of sleep in neurodegenerative diseases. JAMA Neurology 2022, 79(5):498-508. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.0429. PMCID: PMC8981071 (available on 2023-04-04)
Vossel K, Ranasinghe KG, Beagle AJ, La A, Ah Pook K, Castro M, Mizuiri D, Honma SM, Venkateswaran N, Koestler M, Zhang W, Mucke L, Howell MJ, Possin KL, Kramer JH, Boxer AL, Miller BL, Nagaragan SS, Kirsch HE. Effect of Levetiracetam on Cognition in Patients With Alzheimer Disease With and Without Epileptiform Activity: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Neurology 2021, 78(11):1-10. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2021.3310. PMCID: PMC8477304
Ranasinghe KG, Kudo K, Hinkley L, Beagle AJ, Lerner H, Mizuiri D, Findlay A, Miller BL, Kramer JH, Gorno-Tempini ML, Rabinovici GD, Rankin KP, Garcia PA, Kirsch HE, Vossel K (co-senior author), Nagarajan SS (co-senior author). Neuronal synchrony abnormalities associated with subclinical epileptiform activity in patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Brain 2022, 145(2):744-753. doi: 10.1093/brain/awab442. PMCID: PMC9630715
Vossel K, Karageorgiou E. Editorial: Silent Seizures and Memory Loss in Alzheimer's Disease. Frontiers in Neurology 2021, 12:648650. doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.648650. PMCID: PMC7982410
Ranasinghe KG, Petersen C, Kudo K, Mizuiri D, Rankin KP, Rabinovici GD, Seeley WW, Spina S, Miller BL, Vossel K, Grinberg LT, Nagarajan SS. Reduced synchrony in alpha oscillations during life predicts postmortem neurofibrillary tangle density in early-onset and atypical Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer's & Dementia 2021, 17(12):2009-2019. doi.org/10.1002/alz.12349. PMCID: PMC8528895
Castro M, Venkateswaran N, Peters S, K, Deyle DR, Bower M, Boeve BF, Vossel K. Early-onset behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia in patient with retrotransposed full-length transcript of Matrin-3 variant 5. Frontiers in Neurology, 2020, 11:600468. doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2020.600468. PMCID: PMC7779795
Johnson, EL, Krauss GL, Kucharska-Newton A, Albert MS, Brandt J, Walker KA, Yasar S, Knopman DS, Vossel K, Gottesman RF. Dementia in late-onset epilepsy: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. Neurology 2020, 95:e3248-e3256. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000011080. PMCID: PMC7836657
Shields L, Li H, Nguyen K, Kim H, Doric Z, Gill TM, Haddad D, Vossel K, Calvert M, Nakamura K. Mitochondrial fission is a critical modulator of mutant APP-induced neural toxicity. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2021, 296:100469. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100469. PMCID: PMC8042169
Peters ST, Fahrenkopf A, Choquette JM, Vermilyea S, Lee MK, Vossel K. Ablating tau reduces hyperexcitability and moderates electroencephalographic slowing in transgenic mice expressing A53T human α-synuclein. Frontiers in Neurology 2020, 11:563. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00563. PMCID: PMC7316964
Borghesani V, Hinkley LB, Ranasinghe KG, Thompson MMC, Shwe W, Mizuiri D, Lauricella M, Europa E, Honma S, Miller Z, Miller B, Vossel K, Houde JF, Gorno- Tempini ML, Nagarajan SS. Taking the sub-lexical route: brain dynamics of reading in the semantic variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia. Brain 2020, 143 (8):2545-2560. doi: 10.1093/brain/awaa212. PMCID: PMC7447517
Ranasinghe KG, Cha J, Hinkley LB, Beagle AJ, Jagust W, Miller BL, Rankin KP, Rabinovici GD, Vossel KA (co-senior author), Nagarajan SS (co-senior author). Neurophysiological signatures in Alzheimer’s disease are distinctly associated with tau, amyloid-beta accumulation, and cognitive decline. Science Translational Medicine 2020, 12(534):eaaz4069. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaz4069. PMCID: PMC7138514
Gamache J, Kemper L, Steuer E, Leinonen K, Choquette J, Hlynialuk C, Benzow K, Vossel KA, Xia W, Koob M, Ashe KH. Developmental pathogenicity of 4-repeat human tau is lost with the P301L mutation in genetically 1 matched tau-transgenic mice. Journal of Neuroscience 2020, 40(1):220-236. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1256- 19.2019. PMCID: PMC6939485
Ranasinghe KG, Kothare H, Kort N, Hinkley LB, Beagle AJ, Mizuiri D, Honma SM, Lee R, Miller BL, Gorno-Tempini ML, Vossel KA, Houde JF, Nagarajan SS. Neural correlates of abnormal auditory feedback processing during speech production in Alzheimer’s disease. Scientific Reports 2019, 9(1):5686. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41794-x. PMCID: PMC6450891
La AL, Walsh CM, Neylan TC, Vossel KA, Yaffe K, Krystal AD, Miller BL, Karageorgiou E. Long-term trazodone use and cognition: a potential therapeutic role for slow-wave sleep enhancers. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 2019, 67:911-921. doi: 10.3233/JAD-181145. PMCID: PMC6398835
Zeman A, Byruck M, Tallis P, Vossel K, Tranel D. Touching the void - first and third person perspectives in two cases of autobiographical amnesia linked to epilepsy. Neuropsychologia 2018, 110:55-64. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.07.007.
Lutsey PL, Chen N, Lakshminarayan K, Gottesman RF, Mosley TH, Knopman DS, Vossel KA, Mirabelli MC, Alonso A. Impaired lung function, lung disease and risk of incident dementia. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2019, 199(11):1385-1396. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201807-1220OC. PMCID: PMC6543713
Vossel KA, Tartaglia MC, Nygaard HB, Zeman AZ, Miller BL. Epileptic activity in Alzheimer’s disease: causes and clinical relevance. The Lancet Neurology 2017, 16(4):311-322. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(17)30044-3. PMCID: PMC5973551
Beagle AJ, Darwish SM, Ranasinghe KG, La AL, Karageorgiou E, Vossel KA. Relative incidence of seizures and myoclonus in Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementia. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 2017, 60(1):211-223. doi: 10.3233/JAD-170031. PMCID: PMC5608587
Karageorgiou E and Vossel KA. Brain rhythm attractor breakdown in Alzheimer’s disease: functional and pathological implications. Alzheimer's & Dementia 2017, 13(9):1054-1067. doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2017.02.003. PMCID: PMC5585024
Perry DC, Brown J, Possin KL, Datta S, Trujillo A, Radke A, Karydas A, Kornak J, Sias AC, Rabinovici GD, Gorno-Tempini ML, Boxer AL, De May M, Rankin KP, Sturm VE, Lee S, Matthews BR, Kao AW, Vossel KA, Tartaglia MC, Miller ZA, Seo SW, Sidhu M, Gaus SE, Li AN, Vargas JN, Hwang J, Ossenkoppele R, Brown AB, Huang EJ, DeArmond SJ, Coppola G, Rosen HJ, Geschwind D, Trojanowski JQ, Grinberg LT, Kramer JH, Miller BL, Seeley WW. Clinicopathological correlations in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. Brain 2017, 140:3329-3345. doi: 10.1093/brain/awx254. PMCID: PMC5841140
Ranasinghe KG, Hinkley LB, Beagle AJ, Mizuiri D, Honma SM, Welch AE, Hubbard I, Mandelli ML, Miller ZA, Garrett C, La A, Boxer AL, Houde JF, Miller BL, Vossel KA, Gorno-Tempini ML, Nagarajan SS. Distinct patterns of resting state neural synchronizations in primary progressive aphasia variants. Brain 2017, 140:2737- 2751. doi: 10.1093/brain/awx217. PMCID: PMC5841154
Miyamoto T, Stein L, Taneja P, Djukic B, Knox J, Vossel K, Mucke L. Phosphorylation of tau at Y18, but not tau-Fyn binding, is required for tau to modulate NMDA receptor- dependent excitotoxicity in primary neuronal culture. Molecular Neurodegeneration 2017, 12:41. doi: 10.1186/s13024-017-0176-x. PMCID: PMC5438564
Ranasinghe KG, Gill JS, Kothare H, Beagle AJ, Mizuiri D, Honma SM, Gorno-Tempini ML, Miller BL, Vossel KA, Houde JF, Nagarajan SS. Abnormal vocal behavior predicts executive and memory deficits in Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiology of Aging 2017, 52:71-80. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.12.020. PMCID: PMC5359035
Vossel KA, Ranasinghe KG, Beagle AJ, Mizuiri D, Honma SM, Dowling AF, Darwish SM, Barnes DE, Mantle M, Roberson ED, Miller BL, Garcia PA, Kirsch HE, Mucke L, Nagarajan SS. Incidence and impact of subclinical epileptiform activity in Alzheimer’s disease. Annals of Neurology 2016, 80:858-870. doi: 10.1002/ana.24794. PMCID: PMC5177487
Ranasinghe KG, Rankin KP, Pressman PS, Perry DC, Lobach IV, Seeley WW, Coppola G, Karydas AM, Grinberg LT, Shany-Ur T, Lee SE, Rabinovici GD, Rosen HJ, Gorno-Tempini ML, Boxer AL, Miller ZA, Chiong W, DeMay M, Kramer JH, Possin KL, Sturm VE, Bettcher BM, Neylan M, Zackey DD, Nguyen LA, Ketelle R, Block N, Wu TQ, Dallich A, Russek N, Caplan A, Geschwind DH, Vossel KA, Miller BL. Distinct subtypes of behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia based on patterns of network degeneration. JAMA Neurology 2016, 73:1078-1088. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2016.2016. PMCID: PMC5024785
Ossenkoppele R, Schonhaut DR, Schöll M, Lockhart SN, Ayakta N, Lazaris A, Cantwell A, Vogel J, Baker SL, O’Neil JP, Janabi M, Santos M, Miller ZA, Bettcher BM, Vossel KA, Kramer JH, Gorno-Tempini ML, Miller BL, Jagust WJ, Rabinovici GD. Tau PET patterns mirror clinical and neuroanatomical variability in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain 2016, 139:1551-1567. doi: 10.1093/brain/aww027. PMCID: PMC5006248
Ranasinghe KG, Rankin KP, Lobach IV, Kramer JH, Sturm VE, Bettcher BM, Possin K, You SC, Lamarre AK, Shany-Ur T, Stephens ML, Perry DC, Lee SE, Miller ZA, Gorno-Tempini ML, Rosen HJ, Boxer A, Seeley WW, Rabinovici GD, Vossel KA, Miller BL. Cognition and neuropsychiatry in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia by disease stage. Neurology 2016, 86:600-610. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002373. PMCID: PMC4762418
Morris M, Sanchez PE, Verret L, Beagle AJ, Guo W, Dubal D, Ranasinghe KG, Koyama A, Vossel KA, Mucke L. Neural network dysfunction in α-synuclein transgenic mice and human Lewy body dementia. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology 2015, 2:1012-1028. doi: 10.1002/acn3.257. PMCID: PMC4693622
Vossel KA, Xu JC, Fomenko V, Miyamoto T, Suberbielle E, Knox JA, Ho K, Yu G, Mucke L. Tau reduction prevents Aβ-induced axonal transport deficits by blocking activation of GSK3β. The Journal of Cell Biology 2015, 209:419-433. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201407065. PMCID: PMC4427789
Ranasinghe KG, Hinkley LB, Beagle AJ, Mizuiri D, Dowling AF, Honma SM, Finucane MM, Scherling C, Miller BL, Nagarajan SS, Vossel KA. Regional functional connectivity predicts distinct cognitive impairments in Alzheimer's disease spectrum. NeuroImage Clinical 2014, 5:385–395. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2014.07.006. PMCID: PMC4145532
Vossel KA, Beagle AJ, Rabinovici GD, Shu H, Lee SE, Naasan G, Hegde M, Cornes SB, Henry ML, Nelson AB, Seeley WW, Geschwind MD, Gorno-Tempini ML, Shih T, Kirsch HE, Garcia PA, Miller BL, Mucke L. Seizures and epileptiform activity in the early stages of Alzheimer disease. JAMA Neurology 2013, 70:1158-66. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2013.136. PMCID: PMC4013391
Vossel KA, Bien-Ly N, Bernardo A, Rascovsky K, Karydas A, Rabinovici GD, Sidhu M, Huang EJ, Miller BL, Huang Y, Seeley WW. ApoE4 and TDP-43 neuropathology in two siblings with familial FTLD-motor neuron disease. Neurocase 2013, 19:295- 301. doi: 10.1080/13554794.2012.667124. PMCID: PMC3655113
Sanchez PE, Zhu L, Verret L, Vossel KA, Orr AG, Cirrito JR, Devidze N, Yu G, Palop JJ, Mucke L. Levetiracetam suppresses neuronal network dysfunction and reverses synaptic and cognitive deficits in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 2012, 109:E2895-2903. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1121081109. PMCID: PMC3479491
Morris M, Maeda S, Vossel K, Mucke L. The many faces of tau. Neuron 2011, 70:410-26. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2011.04.009. PMCID: PMC3319390
Vossel KA, Zhang K, Brodbeck J, Daub AC, Sharma P, Finkbeiner S, Cui B, Mucke L. Tau reduction prevents Aβ-induced defects in axonal transport. Science 2010, 330:198. doi: 10.1126/science.1194653. PMCID: PMC3024010
Agosta F (co-first author), Vossel KA (co-first author), Miller BL, Migliaccio R, Bonasera S, Boxer AL, Karydas A, Possin KL, Gorno-Tempini ML. Apolipoprotein E epsilon4 is associated with disease-specific effects on brain atrophy in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 2009, 106:2018-22. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0812697106. PMCID: PMC2644156
Vossel KA, Miller BL. New approaches to treatment of frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Current Opinion in Neurology 2008, 21:708–716. doi: 10.1097/WCO.0b013e328318444d. PMCID: PMC2744321
Books
Cho TA, Vossel KA, Yu TW, Greer DM. Neurology. In Pocket Medicine, The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine, 3rd Edition. 2007; 9.1-9.11.
Chapters in Books
Nagarajan SS, Ranasinghe KG, Vossel KA. Brain Imaging With Magnetoencephalography During Rest and During Speech and Language Processing. In Genomics, Circuits and Pathways for the Clinical Neuroscientist. 2016; 233-245.