McKee Named 2016 Spivack Distinguished Scholar in the Neurosciences

COM McKee_Ann_PrefAnn McKee, MD, is the recipient of the Jack Spivack Excellence in Neurosciences Award for 2016.  Mr. Spivack established this award in 2013 to recognize and support the research of an outstanding BUSM faculty member conducting either clinical or basic research in Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and other neurological disorders. McKee’s research has significantly increased our understanding of sports- and military-related concussions and traumatic brain injury.

McKee, who joined the BUSM faculty in 1994, is a professor of Neurology and Pathology and the director of the Neuropathology Core and the CTE Program for the Alzheimer’s Disease Center.  She is also the Chief of Neuropathology, VA Boston Healthcare System and directs the brain banks for the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Program, Framingham Heart Study and the VA TBI Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium, which are all based at the Boston VAMC.

McKee graduated from the University of Wisconsin and received her medical degree from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. She completed residency training in neurology at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital and in neuropathology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

McKee’s research interests center on neurodegenerative diseases, with a primary focus on the role of traumatic injury in triggering changes in tau and TDP43 proteins, vascular injury and neuroinflammation. Much of her current work surrounds the long-term sequelae of repetitive head injury from contact sports and military service.

The author of more than 130 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, McKee is internationally known as a foundational figure in the field of CTE. She also has written widely on many neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy Body disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Multiple System Atrophy, Frontotemporal Degeneration and Corticobasal Degeneration.

McKee is a recipient of a Merit Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs, a Bostonian of the Year Award from The Boston Globe, an Impact Award from the Concussion Legacy Foundation and the Ethos award from Santa Clara University.