Alexa S. Beiser, PhD
Professor, Biostatistics
Biography
Alexa Beiser has been on the faculty at Boston University School of Public Health since 1985, engaged in teaching and collaborative public health research; she co-directed the biostatistics program from 2000-2004, and is currently Associate Chair for Education. She formerly taught and now coordinates the sections of Introduction to Statistical Computing. For more than twenty years, Dr. Beiser has served as the lead biostatistician for the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) neurology group, examining risk factors and prevalence and incidence of clinical and sub-clinical neurological outcomes including MRI measures of brain structure, cognitive performance, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and epilepsy. Dr. Beiser currently leads the FHS neurology group data management team, responsible for surveillance and tracking of incident dementia, for supervision of recruitment of participants for various grant funded studies, and for management of data collected at FHS as well as those measured or processed at other institutions (e.g., brain MRI or PET scans); and the FHS neurology group biostatistics team of six biostatisticians. Decades of examining risk factors for neurological diseases has naturally led to studying factors associated with accelerated brain aging. She has coauthored FHS publications relating risk factors including midlife vascular factors, plasma homocysteine, plasma leptin levels, cardiac index, red blood cell omega-3 fatty acids, metabolic dysregulation, visceral fat, air pollution; serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor; and insulin-like growth factor 1, to measures of brain aging. Dr. Beiser also has made use of the richness of the multigenerational Framingham data to examine temporal trends in prevalent and incident neurological disease and to relate documented parental dementia and stroke to offspring stroke, cognitive performance and MRI measures of brain structure. In all these studies, Dr. Beiser plays a key role in project conceptualization, is responsible for supervision of statistical data management, analysis, and interpretation of results, and contributes to manuscript preparation and critical review.
Other Positions
- Professor, Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine
- Associate Chair, Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health
- Boston Medical Center
- Framingham Heart Study
Education
- Boston University, PhD
- University of California, San Diego, MA
- University of California, Santa Cruz, BA
Publications
- Published on 3/12/2018
Malik R, Chauhan G, Traylor M, Sargurupremraj M, Okada Y, Mishra A, Rutten-Jacobs L, Giese AK, van der Laan SW, Gretarsdottir S, Anderson CD, Chong M, Adams HHH, Ago T, Almgren P, Amouyel P, Ay H, Bartz TM, Benavente OR, Bevan S, Boncoraglio GB, Brown RD, Butterworth AS, Carrera C, Carty CL, Chasman DI, Chen WM, Cole JW, Correa A, Cotlarciuc I, Cruchaga C, Danesh J, de Bakker PIW, DeStefano AL, den Hoed M, Duan Q, Engelter ST, Falcone GJ, Gottesman RF, Grewal RP, Gudnason V, Gustafsson S, Haessler J, Harris TB, Hassan A, Havulinna AS, Heckbert SR, Holliday EG, Howard G, Hsu FC, Hyacinth HI, Ikram MA, Ingelsson E, Irvin MR, Jian X, Jiménez-Conde J, Johnson JA, Jukema JW, Kanai M, Keene KL, Kissela BM, Kleindorfer DO, Kooperberg C, Kubo M, Lange LA, Langefeld CD, Langenberg C, Launer LJ, Lee JM, Lemmens R, Leys D, Lewis CM, Lin WY, Lindgren AG, Lorentzen E, Magnusson PK, Maguire J, Manichaikul A, McArdle PF, Meschia JF, Mitchell BD, Mosley TH, Nalls MA, Ninomiya T, O'Donnell MJ, Psaty BM, Pulit SL, Rannikmäe K, Reiner AP, Rexrode KM, Rice K, Rich SS, Ridker PM, Rost NS, Rothwell PM, Rotter JI, Rundek T, Sacco RL, Sakaue S, Sale MM, Salomaa V, Sapkota BR, Schmidt R, Schmidt CO, Schminke U, Sharma P, Slowik A, Sudlow CLM, Tanislav C, Tatlisumak T, Taylor KD, Thijs VNS, Thorleifsson G, Thorsteinsdottir U, Tiedt S, Trompet S, Tzourio C, van Duijn CM, Walters M, Wareham NJ, Wassertheil-Smoller S, Wilson JG, Wiggins KL, Yang Q, Yusuf S, Bis JC, Pastinen T, Ruusalepp A, Schadt EE, Koplev S, Björkegren JLM, Codoni V, Civelek M, Smith NL, Trégouët DA, Christophersen IE, Roselli C, Lubitz SA, Ellinor PT, Tai ES, Kooner JS, Kato N, He J, van der Harst P, Elliott P, Chambers JC, Takeuchi F, Johnson AD, Sanghera DK, Melander O, Jern C, Strbian D, Fernandez-Cadenas I, Longstreth WT, Rolfs A, Hata J, Woo D, Rosand J, Pare G, Hopewell JC, Saleheen D, Stefansson K, Worrall BB, Kittner SJ, Seshadri S, Fornage M, Markus HS, Howson JMM, Kamatani Y, Debette S, Dichgans M, Malik R, Chauhan G, Traylor M, Sargurupremraj M, Okada Y, Mishra A, Rutten-Jacobs L, Giese AK, van der Laan SW, Gretarsdottir S, Anderson CD, Chong M, Adams HHH, Ago T, Almgren P, Amouyel P, Ay H, Bartz TM, Benavente OR, Bevan S, Boncoraglio GB, Brown RD, Butterworth AS, Carrera C, Carty CL, Chasman DI, Chen WM, Cole JW, Correa A, Cotlarciuc I, Cruchaga C, Danesh J, de Bakker PIW, DeStefano AL, Hoed MD, Duan Q, Engelter ST, Falcone GJ, Gottesman RF, Grewal RP, Gudnason V, Gustafsson S, Haessler J, Harris TB, Hassan A, Havulinna AS, Heckbert SR, Holliday EG, Howard G, Hsu FC, Hyacinth HI, Ikram MA, Ingelsson E, Irvin MR, Jian X, Jiménez-Conde J, Johnson JA, Jukema JW, Kanai M, Keene KL, Kissela BM, Kleindorfer DO, Kooperberg C, Kubo M, Lange LA, Langefeld CD, Langenberg C, Launer LJ, Lee JM, Lemmens R, Leys D, Lewis CM, Lin WY, Lindgren AG, Lorentzen E, Magnusson PK, Maguire J, Manichaikul A, McArdle PF, Meschia JF, Mitchell BD, Mosley TH, Nalls MA, Ninomiya T, O'Donnell MJ, Psaty BM, Pulit SL, Rannikmäe K, Reiner AP, Rexrode KM, Rice K, Rich SS, Ridker PM, Rost NS, Rothwell PM, Rotter JI, Rundek T, Sacco RL, Sakaue S, Sale MM, Salomaa V, Sapkota BR, Schmidt R, Schmidt CO, Schminke U, Sharma P, Slowik A, Sudlow CLM, Tanislav C, Tatlisumak T, Taylor KD, Thijs VNS, Thorleifsson G, Thorsteinsdottir U, Tiedt S, Trompet S, Tzourio C, van Duijn CM, Walters M, Wareham NJ, Wassertheil-Smoller S, Wilson JG, Wiggins KL, Yang Q, Yusuf S, Amin N, Aparicio HS, Arnett DK, Attia J, Beiser AS, Berr C, Buring JE, Bustamante M, Caso V, Cheng YC, Choi SH, Chowhan A, Cullell N, Dartigues JF, Delavaran H, Delgado P, Dörr M, Engström G, Ford I, Gurpreet WS, Hamsten A, Heitsch L, Hozawa A, Ibanez L, Ilinca A, Ingelsson M, Iwasaki M, Jackson RD, Jood K, Jousilahti P, Kaffashian S, Kalra L, Kamouchi M, Kitazono T, Kjartansson O, Kloss M, Koudstaal PJ, Krupinski J, Labovitz DL, Laurie CC, Levi CR, Li L, Lind L, Lindgren CM, Lioutas V, Liu YM, Lopez OL, Makoto H, Martinez-Majander N, Matsuda K, et al. Multiancestry genome-wide association study of 520,000 subjects identifies 32 loci associated with stroke and stroke subtypes. Nat Genet. 2018 Apr; 50(4):524-537. PMID: 29531354.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/6/2018
Pase MP, Himali JJ, Grima NA, Beiser AS, Satizabal CL, Aparicio HJ, Thomas RJ, Gottlieb DJ, Auerbach SH, Seshadri S. Author response: Sleep architecture and the risk of incident dementia in the community. Neurology. 2018 Mar 06; 90(10):487. PMID: 29507137.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/28/2018
Tynkkynen J, Chouraki V, van der Lee SJ, Hernesniemi J, Yang Q, Li S, Beiser A, Larson MG, Sääksjärvi K, Shipley MJ, Singh-Manoux A, Gerszten RE, Wang TJ, Havulinna AS, Würtz P, Fischer K, Demirkan A, Ikram MA, Amin N, Lehtimäki T, Kähönen M, Perola M, Metspalu A, Kangas AJ, Soininen P, Ala-Korpela M, Vasan RS, Kivimäki M, van Duijn CM, Seshadri S, Salomaa V. Association of branched-chain amino acids and other circulating metabolites with risk of incident dementia and Alzheimer's disease: A prospective study in eight cohorts. Alzheimers Dement. 2018 Feb 28. PMID: 29519576.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/1/2018
Weinstein G, Zelber-Sagi S, Preis SR, Beiser AS, DeCarli C, Speliotes EK, Satizabal CL, Vasan RS, Seshadri S. Association of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease With Lower Brain Volume in Healthy Middle-aged Adults in the Framingham Study. JAMA Neurol. 2018 Jan 01; 75(1):97-104. PMID: 29159396.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/27/2017
Sarnowski C, Satizabal CL, DeCarli C, Pitsillides AN, Cupples LA, Vasan RS, Wilson JG, Bis JC, Fornage M, Beiser AS, DeStefano AL, Dupuis J, Seshadri S. Whole genome sequence analyses of brain imaging measures in the Framingham Study. Neurology. 2018 Jan 16; 90(3):e188-e196. PMID: 29282330.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/29/2017
Adams S, Conner S, Himali JJ, Beiser A, Vasan RS, Seshadri S, Pase MP. Vascular risk factor burden and new-onset depression in the community. Prev Med. 2017 Nov 29. PMID: 29197532.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/8/2017
McGrath ER, Beiser AS, DeCarli C, Plourde KL, Vasan RS, Greenberg SM, Seshadri S. Blood pressure from mid- to late life and risk of incident dementia. Neurology. 2017 Dec 12; 89(24):2447-2454. PMID: 29117954.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/23/2017
Chibnik LB, Wolters FJ, Bäckman K, Beiser A, Berr C, Bis JC, Boerwinkle E, Bos D, Brayne C, Dartigues JF, Darweesh SKL, Debette S, Davis-Plourde KL, Dufouil C, Fornage M, Grasset L, Gudnason V, Hadjichrysanthou C, Helmer C, Ikram MA, Ikram MK, Kern S, Kuller LH, Launer L, Lopez OL, Matthews F, Meirelles O, Mosley T, Ower A, Psaty BM, Satizabal CL, Seshadri S, Skoog I, Stephan BCM, Tzourio C, Waziry R, Wong MM, Zettergren A, Hofman A. Trends in the incidence of dementia: design and methods in the Alzheimer Cohorts Consortium. Eur J Epidemiol. 2017 Oct; 32(10):931-938. PMID: 29063414.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/3/2017
Pase MP, Westwood AJ, Beiser A, Jain N, DeCarli C, Himali JJ, Auerbach SH, Seshadri S. Author response: Prolonged sleep duration as a marker of early neurodegeneration predicting incident dementia. Neurology. 2017 Oct 03; 89(14):1533. PMID: 28972111.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/22/2017
Nishtala A, Piers RJ, Himali JJ, Beiser AS, Davis-Plourde KL, Saczynski JS, McManus DD, Benjamin EJ, Au R. Atrial fibrillation and cognitive decline in the Framingham Heart Study. Heart Rhythm. 2018 Feb; 15(2):166-172. PMID: 28943482.
Read at: PubMed
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