Kristine Yaffe, MD

Kristine Yaffe, MD, is the Scola Endowed Chair and Leon Epstein Endowed Chair and Vice Chair, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology, and Director of the Center for Population Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Professor Yaffe is dually trained in neurology and psychiatry and completed postdoctoral training in epidemiology and geriatric psychiatry, all at UCSF.

Professor Yaffe is an internationally recognized expert in the epidemiology of dementia and cognitive aging and one of the foremost leaders in identifying modifiable risk factors for dementia. Her research, currently supported by over a dozen NIH, Department of Defense, VA, and foundation grants, bridges the fields of neurology, psychiatry, and epidemiology. Professor Yaffe and colleagues were the first to determine that potentially 30%-40% of dementia risk is preventable. She pioneered early investigations on the roles of estrogen, physical activity, and cardiovascular factors in dementia risk, and more recently, her research group has led work on the connections between cognitive aging and sleep disorders, traumatic brain injury and lifecourse exposures as well as conducting trials to reduce risk of Alzheimer disease and other related dementias. With over 700 peer-reviewed articles dedicated to improving population brain health (H-index=174 and recognized by Clarivate Analytics as one of the most highly cited researchers in her field for the past several years), her work has formed the cornerstone for dementia prevention worldwide. In recognition of these groundbreaking accomplishments, Dr. Yaffe has received numerous awards including the Potamkin Prize for Alzheimer’s Research, the NIH Gordon Award and was the first woman to receive the VA Barnwell Award. Professor Yaffe was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019.