Claudia L. Satizabal, PhD

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Prior to joining the Framingham Heart Study in 2013, Satizabal earned her doctorate degree, studying the relationship between inflammatory proteins and cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative MRI markers of abnormal brain aging in the French Three-City Study at the INSERM Neuro-Epidemiology laboratory of the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris. In 2007, she was awarded a two-year Utrecht Excellence Scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in epidemiology from Utrecht University. In addition to her work at BUSM and the FHS, Satizabal is actively involved in the neurology and cognitive working groups of the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium, where she leads projects investigating the genetic variation in fine motor speed, visual memory, and subcortical brain structures. She participates in several other international collaborations including the AD Cohorts Consortium and the replication phase of the AD sequencing project. She is currently investigating the impact of midlife obesity, as well as different dietary, inflammatory and neurotrophic biomarkers, in association with stroke, cognitive function, MRI markers of abnormal brain aging and dementia.

Publications

  • Published 1/25/2026

    Sun X, Liu X, Bulekova K, Pitsillides AN, Guo X, Yong Q, Raffield LM, Rotter JI, Rich SS, Abecasis G, Carson AP, Vasan RS, Bis JC, Psaty BM, Boerwinkle E, Fitzpatrick AL, Satizabal CL, Arking DE, Ding J, Levy D, Liu C. ASSOCIATION ANALYSIS OF MITOCHONDRIAL HETEROPLASMIC VARIANTS AND CARDIOMETABOLIC TRAITS. medRxiv. 2026 Jan 25. PMID: 41659078.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/1/2026

    Li JM, Gauen AM, Zmora R, Stephen JJ, Petito LC, Scholtens D, Peterson EA, Kohli-Lynch C, Mansolf M, Sedaghat S, Giorgio K, Gross AL, Helmer C, Debette S, Soumaré A, Ikram MA, Wolters FJ, Seshadri S, Satizabal CL, Himali J, Levine DA, Briceño EM, Sorond FA, Launer LJ, Li D, Mbangdadji D, Zhao L, Lloyd-Jones DM, Lopez OL, Judd SE, Hughes TM, Gudnason V, Aiello AE, Fohner A, Singh-Manoux A, Allen NB. Midlife and late-life population attributable fractions of risk factors for dementia in the United States: The Dementia Risk Prediction Project. Alzheimers Dement. 2026 Jan; 22(1):e71065. PMID: 41559019.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/1/2026

    De Leon R, Garza S, Mejia-Arango S, Vatcheva KP, Charisis S, Satizabal C, Mena LJ, Lee JH, Terwilliger JD, Manusov E, Seshadri S, Gutierrez J, Maestre GE, Brickman AM, Melgarejo JD. Associations of Blood Pressure Level and Variability With Cortical Thickness: A Cross-Sectional Analysis From the Maracaibo Aging Study. Am J Hypertens. 2026 Jan 01; 39(1):39-47. PMID: 40878761.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/1/2025

    Shubert NMA, Yao S, Naeini MK, Trpchevska N, Bishop C, Bizaki-Vallaskangas A, Broer L, Castellana F, Christensen K, Hjelmborg JVB, Concas MP, Santin A, Girotto G, Nardone GG, Iacoviello L, Mengel-From J, Gallagher S, Gudjonsson A, Gudnason V, Heard-Costa NL, Seshadri S, Hoffman HJ, Li CM, Kaprio J, Rämö J, Saarentaus E, Kettunen J, Krebs K, Kähler AK, Launer LJ, Leonard H, Nalls MA, Magnusson PKE, van Meurs J, Milani L, Mäkitie A, Oosterloo BC, Nygaard M, Palviainen T, Pratt S, Quaranta N, Sardone R, Satizabal CL, Schweinfurth JM, Shiroma E, Simonsick E, Spankovich C, Sullivan PF, Goedegebure A, Nagtegaal AP, Pyott SJ, Cederroth CR, Freidin MB, Williams FM. Integrating GWAS meta-analysis with human brain cell mapping implicates the amygdala and the midbrain in the pathogenesis of tinnitus. medRxiv. 2025 Dec 01. PMID: 41378354.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 10/24/2025

    Vazquez J, Bernal R, Aguirre LA, Melgarejo JD, Maestre G, Seshadri S, Hazuda HP, Wang CP, Satizabal CL. Impact of mid-life cardiovascular health on cognitive change in a bi-ethnic cohort. medRxiv. 2025 Oct 24. PMID: 41282848.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 189 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Investigator
    Framingham Heart Study

Websites

Education

  • Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris VI), PhD
  • Utrecht University, MSc
  • Universidad de Los Andes, BSc

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