Elaine Peskind, MD
Personal Statement
I am Co-Director of the VA VISN 20 (Northwest Network) Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC). I am also the Friends of Alzheimer’s Research Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine and am Associate Director of the UW Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. My research over the past 30 years has addressed cognitive and behavioral problems and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers in neurodegenerative dementing disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. More recently, my research has focused on combat trauma posttraumatic stress disorder and the clinical phenomenology as well as neuroimaging and CSF biomarkers of neurodegeneration in combat blast concussion mild traumatic brain injury and in Gulf War Veterans Illness. I continue to conduct single site as well as multi-site large scale studies of CSF biomarkers and pharmacological treatment trials for behavioral disorders and traumatic brain injury.
Summary of my research program:
Blast Concussion Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI)
Strategies: multimodal neuroimaging: structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (diffusion tensor imaging [DTI], DTI tractography, macromolecular proton fraction mapping, resting state and task-based functional MRI; susceptibility-weighted imaging, FDG-positron emission tomography [PET]; cerebrospinal fluid and plasma biomarkers; genetic risk factors; clinical, neurocognitive and behavioral assessments,
Gulf War Veterans Illness (GWVI)
Strategies: multimodal neuroimaging and CSF and plasma biomarkers as described above, epigenetics, pain sensitivity testing and ability to activate endogenous opioid systems, and functional activity of paraoxonase I, the enzyme that metabolizes organophosphate insecticides.
Cerebrospinal Fluid and Plasma Biomarkers of Neurodegeneration Strategies: Bead-based multiplex assays using Luminex and Meso-Scale platforms, Quanterix ultra-sensitive platform, and broad-scale mass spectrometry for measurement of proteins, circulating RNAs, microRNAs in collaboration with VA/UW and Institute for Systems Biology investigators.
Pharmacologic Treatment of Disruptive Agitation in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
Strategies: Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study multi-center randomized placebo-controlled trial of the alpha-1 adrenoreceptor antagonist, prazosin, for treatment of disruptive agitation in AD.
Department Affiliations
Centers/Programs
Training Programs
- Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship
- VA Northwest Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) Advanced Fellowship in Mental Illness Research and Treatment – VA Puget Sound Health Care System
- Alzheimer’s Disease Training Program: Neurobehavior, Neuropathology, and Risk Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease – University of Washington
Scholarly Expertise
Recent Publications
(2025 Sep 15)
medRxiv
Qi YS, Miller LR, D'Ascenzo MD, Berndt JD, Whitney GA, Duffy F, Danziger SA, Peskind E, Li G, Masters CL, Fowler C, Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle Study of Ageing (AIBL) Research Group, Lipshutz R, Aitchison JD, Smith JJ
(2025 Jul 17)
Genome Biol 26(1): 210
Rajabli F, Benchek P, Tosto G, Kushch N, Sha J, Bazemore K, Zhu C, Lee WP, Haut J, Hamilton-Nelson KL, Wheeler NR, Zhao Y, Farrell JJ, Grunin MA, Leung YY, Kuksa PP, Li D, da Fonseca EL, Mez JB, Palmer EL, Pillai J, Sherva RM, Song YE, Zhang X, Ikeuchi T, Iqbal T, Pathak O, Valladares O, Reyes-Dumeyer D, Kuzma AB, Abner E, Adams LD, Adams PM, Aguirre A, Albert MS, Albin RL, Allen M, Alvarez L, Apostolova LG, Arnold SE, Asthana S, Atwood CS, Auerbach S, Ayres G, Baldwin CT, Barber RC, Barnes LL, Barral S, Beach TG, Becker JT, Beecham GW, Beekly D, Benitez BA, Bennett D, Bertelson J, Bird TD, Blacker D, Boeve BF, Bowen JD, Boxer A, Brewer J, Burke JR, Burns JM, Buxbaum JD, Cairns NJ, Cantwell LB, Cao C, Carlson CS, Carlsson CM, Carney RM, Carrasquillo MM, Chasse S, Chesselet MF, Chin NA, Chui HC, Chung J, Craft S, Crane PK, Cribbs DH, Crocco EA, Cruchaga C, Cuccaro ML, Cullum M, Darby E, Davis B, De Jager PL, DeCarli C, DeToledo J, Dick M, Dickson DW, Dombroski BA, Doody RS, Duara R, Ertekin-Taner N, Evans DA, Faber KM, Fairchild TJ, Fallon KB, Fardo DW, Farlow MR, Fernandez-Hernandez V, Ferris S, Friedland RP, Foroud TM, Frosch MP, Fulton-Howard B, Galasko DR, Gamboa A, Gearing M, Geschwind DH, Ghetti B, Gilbert JR, Go RCP, Goate AM, Grabowski TJ, Graff-Radford NR, Green RC, Growdon JH, Hakonarson H, Hall J, Hamilton RL, Harari O, Hardy J, Harrell LE, Head E, Henderson VW, Hernandez M, Hohman T, Honig LS, Huebinger RM, Huentelman MJ, Hulette CM, Hyman BT, Hynan LS, Ibanez L, Jarvik GP, Jayadev S, Jin LW, Johnson K, Johnson L, Kamboh MI, Karydas AM, Katz MJ, Kauwe JS, Kaye JA, Keene CD, Khaleeq A, Kikuchi M, Kim R, Knebl J, Kowall NW, Kramer JH, Kukull WA, LaFerla FM, Lah JJ, Larson EB, Lerner A, Leverenz JB, Levey AI, Lieberman AP, Lipton RB, Logue M, Lopez OL, Lunetta KL, Lyketsos CG, Mains D, Margaret FE, Marson DC, Martin ER, Martiniuk F, Mash DC, Masliah E, Massman P, Masurkar A, McCormick WC, McCurry SM, McDavid AN, McDonough S, McKee AC, Mesulam M, Miller BL, Miller CA, Miller JW, Montine TJ, Monuki ES, Morris JC, Mukherjee S, Myers AJ, Nguyen T, Obisesan T, O'Bryant S, Olichney JM, Ory M, Palmer R, Parisi JE, Paulson HL, Pavlik V, Paydarfar D, Perez V, Peskind E, Petersen RC, Petrovitch H, Pierce A, Polk M, Poon WW, Potter H, Qu L, Quiceno M, Quinn JF, Raj A, Raskind M, Reiman EM, Reisberg B, Reisch JS, Ringman JM, Roberson ED, Rodriguear M, Rogaeva E, Rosen HJ, Rosenberg RN, Royall DR, Sabbagh M, Sadovnick AD, Sager MA, Sano M, Saykin AJ, Schneider JA, Schneider LS, Seeley WW, Slifer SH, Small S, Smith AG, Smith JP, Sonnen JA, Spina S, George-Hyslop PS, Starks TD, Stern RA, Stevens AB, Strittmatter SM, Sultzer D, Swerdlow RH, Tanzi RE, Tilson JL, Trojanowski JQ, Troncoso JC, Tsolaki M, Tsuang DW, Van Deerlin VM, van Eldik LJ, Vance JM, Vardarajan BN, Vassar R, Vinters HV, Vonsattel JP, Weintraub S, Welsh-Bohmer KA, Whitehead PL, Wijsman EM, Wilhelmsen KC, Williams B, Williamson J, Wilms H, Wingo TS, Wisniewski T, Woltjer RL, Woon M, Wright CB, Wu CK, Younkin SG, Yu CE, Yu L, Zhu X, Kunkle BW, Bush WS, Miyashita A, Byrd GS, Wang LS, Farrer LA, Haines JL, Mayeux R, Pericak-Vance MA, Schellenberg GD, Jun GR, Reitz C, Naj AC, Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC)
(2025 May 21)
Res Sq
Cruchaga C, Timsina J, Jiang C, McCartney D, Tao F, Dalmasso MC, Najar J, Anastasi F, Ohlei O, Puerta R, Bradley J, Western D, Ali M, Wang C, Yang C, Wu Y, Liu M, Budde J, Williams J, Mahoney R, Castillo A, Hohman T, Dumitrescu L, Wang TC, Tesi N, Kern S, Waern M, Skoog I, van Harten A, van der Flier W, Sánchez-Juan P, Rodriguez-Rodriguez E, Kleineidam L, Peters O, Schneider A, Küçükali F, Bellenguez C, Grenier-Boley B, Heikkinen S, de Rojas I, Rujescu D, Scherbaum N, Hausner L, Duzel E, Grimmer T, Wiltfang J, Vandenberghe R, Engelborghs S, Heilmann-Heimbach S, Schmid M, Tegos T, Scarmeas N, Dols-Icardo O, Moreno F, Pérez-Tur J, Bullido MJ, Sanchez-Valle R, Álvarez V, Garcia-Gonzalez P, Mir P, Real L, Piñol-Ripoll G, García-Alberca JM, Seelaar H, Ramakers I, Papma J, Hulsman M, Laske C, Teipel S, Priller J, Perneczky R, Buerger K, Nöthen M, Lewczuk P, Kornhuber J, Maier W, Hampel H, Giegling I, Goldhardt O, Diehl-Schmid J, Andrade V, Heneka M, Froelich L, Vogelgsang J, Graff C, Thonberg H, Ullgren A, Papenberg G, Boland A, Deleuze JF, Wagner M, Jessen F, Holstege H, van Duijn C, Lebouvier T, Hanon O, Leinonen V, Soininen H, Herukka SK, Giedraitis V, Löwenmark M, Kilander L, Genius P, Rodríguez B, Luckett E, Navarro A, Cano A, Marquié M, Blennow K, Zetterberg H, Lleo A, Boada M, Laza AR, Lee V, Deerlin VV, Deming Y, Johnson S, Engelman C, Pastor P, Alvarez I, Peskind E, Heslegrave A, Saykin A, Nho K, Schindler S, Morris J, Holtzman D, McDade E, Renton A, Goate A, Ibanez L, Riemenschneider M, Albert M, Laws S, Porter T, O'Brien E, Shaw L, Tijms B, Ingelsson M, Visser PJ, Hiltunen M, Sleegers K, Ritchie C, Sims R, Lambert JC, Vilor-Tejedor N, Fernández M, Li Q, Nagle M, Marioni R, Ramirez A, Bertram L, van der Lee S
(2025 May 27)
Neurology 104(10): e213584
van Amerongen S, Peskind ER, Tripodis Y, Adler CH, Balcer LJ, Bernick C, Alosco ML, Katz D, Banks SJ, Barr WB, Cantu RC, Dodick DW, Geda YE, Mez J, Wethe JV, Weller JL, Daneshvar DH, Palmisano J, Fagle T, Holleck M, Kossow B, Pulukuri S, Tuz-Zahra F, Colasurdo E, Sikkema C, Iliff J, Li G, Shenton ME, Reiman EM, Cummings JL, Stern RA, DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project
(2025 Mar 3)
JAMA Netw Open 8(3): e250562
Xu X, Kwon J, Yan R, Apio C, Song S, Heo G, Yang Q, Timsina J, Liu M, Budde J, Blennow K, Zetterberg H, Lleó A, Ruiz A, Molinuevo JL, Lee VM, Deming Y, Heslegrave AJ, Hohman TJ, Pastor P, Peskind ER, Albert MS, Morris JC, Park T, Cruchaga C, Sung YJ
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