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 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
(2025 Jan 31)
Geroscience
Wang L, Hu W, Dong F, Sheng C, Wu J, Han Y, Jiang J, Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Weiner MW, Aisen P, Petersen R, Jack CR, Jagust W, Trojanowski JQ, Toga AW, Beckett L, Green RC, Saykin AJ, Morris J, Shaw LM, Khachaturian Z, Sorensen G, Kuller L, Raichle M, Paul S, Davies P, Fillit H, Hefti F, Holtzman D, Mesulam MM, Potter W, Snyder P, Schwartz A, Montine T, Thomas RG, Donohue M, Walter S, Gessert D, Sather T, Jiminez G, Harvey D, Bernstein M, Thompson P, Schuff N, Borowski B, Gunter J, Senjem M, Vemuri P, Jones D, Kantarci K, Ward C, Koeppe RA, Foster N, Reiman EM, Chen K, Mathis C, Landau S, Cairns NJ, Householder E, Taylor-Reinwald L, Lee V, Korecka M, Figurski M, Crawford K, Neu S, Foroud TM, Potkin SG, Shen L, Faber K, Kim S, Nho K, Thal L, Buckholtz N, Albert M, Frank R, Hsiao J, Kaye J, Quinn J, Lind B, Carter R, Dolen S, Schneider LS, Pawluczyk S, Beccera M, Teodoro L, Spann BM, Brewer J, Vanderswag H, Fleisher A, Heidebrink JL, Lord JL, Mason SS, Albers CS, Knopman D, Johnson K, Doody RS, Villanueva-Meyer J, Chowdhury M, Rountree S, Dang M, Stern Y, Honig LS, Bell KL, Ances B, Carroll M, Leon S, Mintun MA, Schneider S, Oliver A, Marson D, Griffith R, Clark D, Geldmacher D, Brockington J, Roberson E, Grossman H, Mitsis E, de Toledo-Morrell L, Shah RC, Duara R, Varon D, Greig MT, Roberts P, Onyike C, D'Agostino D, Kielb S, Galvin JE, Cerbone B, Michel CA, Rusinek H, de Leon MJ, Glodzik L, De Santi S, Doraiswamy P, Petrella JR, Wong TZ, Arnold SE, Karlawish JH, Wolk D, Smith CD, Jicha G, Hardy P, Sinha P, Oates E, Conrad G, Lopez OL, Oakley M, Simpson DM, Porsteinsson AP, Goldstein BS, Martin K, Makino KM, Ismail M, Brand C, Mulnard RA, Thai G, McAdams-Ortiz C, Womack K, Mathews D, Quiceno M, Diaz-Arrastia R, King R, Weiner M, Martin-Cook K, DeVous M, Levey AI, Lah JJ, Cellar JS, Burns JM, Anderson HS, Swerdlow RH, Apostolova L, Tingus K, Woo E, Silverman DHS, Lu PH, Bartzokis G, Graff-Radford NR, Parfitt F, Kendall T, Johnson H, Farlow MR, Hake AM, Matthews BR, Herring S, Hunt C, van Dyck CH, Carson RE, MacAvoy MG, Chertkow H, Bergman H, Hosein C, Hsiung GR, Feldman H, Mudge B, Assaly M, Bernick C, Munic D, Kertesz A, Rogers J, Trost D, Kerwin D, Lipowski K, Wu CK, Johnson N, Sadowsky C, Martinez W, Villena T, Turner RS, Johnson K, Reynolds B, Sperling RA, Johnson KA, Marshall G, Frey M, Lane B, Rosen A, Tinklenberg J, Sabbagh MN, Belden CM, Jacobson SA, Sirrel SA, Kowall N, Killiany R, Budson AE, Norbash A, Johnson PL, Allard J, Lerner A, Ogrocki P, Hudson L, Fletcher E, Carmichae O, Olichney J, DeCarli C, Kittur S, Borrie M, Lee TY, Bartha R, Johnson S, Asthana S, Carlsson CM, Preda A, Nguyen D, Tariot P, Reeder S, Bates V, Capote H, Rainka M, Scharre DW, Kataki M, Adeli A, Zimmerman EA, Celmins D, Brown AD, Pearlson GD, Blank K, Anderson K, Santulli RB, Kitzmiller TJ, Schwartz ES, Sink KM, Williamson JD, Garg P, Watkins F, Ott BR, Querfurth H, Tremont G, Salloway S, Malloy P, Correia S, Rosen HJ, Miller BL, Mintzer J, Spicer K, Bachman D, Pasternak S, Rachinsky I, Drost D, Pomara N, Hernando R, Sarrael A, Schultz SK, Ponto LLB, Shim H, Smith KE, Relkin N, Chaing G, Raudin L, Smith A, Fargher K, Raj BA, Neylan T, Grafman J, Davis M, Morrison R, Hayes J, Finley S, Friedl K, Fleischman D, Arfanakis K, James O, Massoglia D, Fruehling J, Harding S, Peskind ER, Petrie EC, Li G, Yesavage JA, Taylor JL, Furst AJ
(2024)
Front Drug Deliv 4():
Edwards MM, Nguyen HK, Dodson AD, Herbertson AJ, Honeycutt MK, Slattery JD, Rambousek JR, Tsui E, Wolden-Hanson T, Wietecha TA, Graham JL, Tapia GP, Sikkema CL, O'Brien KD, Mundinger TO, Peskind ER, Ryu V, Havel PJ, Khan AM, Taborsky GJ Jr, Blevins JE
(2025 Jan 26)
Clin Neuropsychol
Altaras C, Ly MT, Schultz O, Barr WB, Banks SJ, Wethe JV, Tripodis Y, Adler CH, Balcer LJ, Bernick C, Zetterberg H, Blennow K, Ashton N, Peskind E, Cantu RC, Coleman MJ, Lin AP, Koerte IK, Bouix S, Daneshvar D, Dodick DW, Geda YE, Katz DL, Weller JL, Mez J, Palmisano JN, Martin B, Cummings JL, Reiman EM, Shenton ME, Stern RA, Alosco ML
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