Jose Rafael Romero, MD
Associate Professor, Neurology
Biography
Dr. Romero completed residency training in neurology at Boston University Medical Campus and fellowship training in vascular neurology at Boston University Medical Campus. He received his medical degree from the Escuela Cololmbiana de Medicina in Colombia. He also completed studies for a Master in Epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health.
Dr. Romero is an active investigator in the Framingham Heart Study since 2006.
Research Interests
Dr. Romero’s research interests center on the study of cerebrovascular disease in subclinical stages, prevention of stroke, cognitive impairment and dementia and use of neuroimaging in the epidemiological study of cerebrovascular disease. His focus is in the interplay of cerebrovascular disease with the neurodegenerative process, and contributions to clinical stroke and dementia. Much of his current work centers on the epidemiological study of brain MRI markers of cerebral small vessel disease, their determinants and clinical consequences. As a board-certified neurologist and vascular neurologist, his clinical interests are in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of patients with stroke, with particular emphasis in racial minority populations. He runs a stroke prevention clinic and is an active member in the Stroke Unit at Boston Medical Center. He is the site PI of several clinical trials for acute stroke treatment and secondary prevention. He has written widely on stroke, cerebrovascular disease in subclinical stages, and epidemiology of stroke and dementia. He has participated as study section reviewer in the NIH- and has obtained grant funding from NIH-NIA for his research support. Dr. Romero has presented the results of his research widely at national and international level and has been invited to participate in several international consortia of experts in cerebrovascular disease. Dr. Romero has contributed significantly to our understanding of cerebral microbleeds in the general population and is now leading the study of enlarged perivascular spaces in the Framingham Heart Study cohorts.
Other Positions
- Investigator, Framingham Heart Study
Websites
- BU Profile
- Neurology Faculty
- Boston Medical Center Provider Profile
- American Stroke Association communications, International Stroke Conference newsletter. Lifelong trajectories of vascular risk factors and burden of cerebral small vessel disease.
- Dr. Gregg Day talks with Dr. Rafael Romero (Jose Rafael Romero), about the correlation between perivascular spaces visible on MRIs and the risk of incident dementia
- Combination of Two Common Cardiovascular Drugs Could Improve Outcomes in Lacunar Stroke. NeurologyToday.
- Apixaban Prevents Silent Stroke Better Than Aspirin After Cryptogenic Stroke. NeurologyToday.
Education
- Escuela Colombiana de Medicina, MD
Publications
- Published on 3/10/2025
Levine DA, Whitney RT, Ye W, Briceño EM, Gross AL, Giordani BJ, Sussman JB, Lazar RM, Howard VJ, Aparicio HJ, Beiser AS, Elkind MSV, Gottesman RF, Koton S, Pendlebury ST, Kollipara AS, Springer MV, Seshadri S, Romero JR, Fitzpatrick AL, Longstreth WT, Hayward RA. Associations Between Stroke Type, Ischemic Stroke Subtypes, and Poststroke Cognitive Trajectories. Stroke. 2025 Apr; 56(4):898-907. PMID: 40062407.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/27/2025
Ekenze O, Seiler S, Pinheiro A, DeCarli C, Parva P, Habes M, Charidimou A, Maillard P, Beiser A, Seshadri S, Demissie S, Romero JR. Relation of MRI visible perivascular spaces with global and regional brain structural connectivity measures: The Framingham Heart Study (FHS). Neurobiol Aging. 2025 Feb 27; 150:1-8. PMID: 40043467.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/18/2024
Stefanidou M, Himali JJ, Bernal R, Satizabal C, Devinsky O, Romero JR, Beiser AS, Seshadri S, Friedman D. Association of cognitive and structural correlates of brain aging and incident epilepsy. The Framingham Heart Study. Epilepsia. 2025 Jan; 66(1):160-169. PMID: 39555677.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/14/2024
Yau WW, Scott MR, Petrea RE, Buckley RF, Kojis D, Sperling RA, Chhatwal JP, Maillard P, Aparicio HJ, Romero JR, DeCarli CS, Beiser AS, Seshadri S. Sex-Specific Vulnerabilities to Subclinical Vascular Brain Injury in Early Late-Life: The Framingham Heart Study. Ann Neurol. 2025 Mar; 97(3):460-469. PMID: 39540324.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/30/2024
Kelly DM, Pinheiro AA, Koini M, Anderson CD, Aparicio H, Hofer E, Kern D, Blacker D, DeCarli C, Hwang SJ, Viswanathan A, Gonzales MM, Beiser AS, Seshadri S, Schmidt R, Demissie S, Romero JR. Impaired kidney function, cerebral small vessel disease and cognitive disorders: the Framingham Heart Study. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2024 Oct 30; 39(11):1911-1922. PMID: 38565317.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/28/2024
Singh SD, Senff JR, Romero JR. Is Psychosocial Health a Neglected Modifier of the Link Between Cerebral Small Vessel Disease and Dementia? Stroke. 2024 Oct; 55(10):2459-2461. PMID: 39193711.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/1/2024
Levine DA, Whitney RT, Ye W, Briceño EM, Gross AL, Giordani BJ, Sussman JB, Lazar RM, Howard VJ, Aparicio HJ, Beiser AS, Elkind MSV, Gottesman RF, Koton S, Pendlebury ST, Kollipara AS, Springer MV, Seshadri S, Romero JR, Fitzpatrick AL, Longstreth WT, Hayward RA. Associations Between Stroke Type, Ischemic Stroke Subtypes, and Post-Stroke Cognitive Trajectories. medRxiv. 2024 May 01. PMID: 38903102.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/17/2024
Tawakul A, Toro AR, Romero JR. Acute cerebral microbleeds detected on high resolution head CT presenting with transient neurologic events. Cereb Circ Cogn Behav. 2024; 6:100207. PMID: 38312310.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/26/2023
Del Brutto VJ, Khasiyev F, Liu M, Spagnolo-Allende A, Qiao Y, Melgarejo Arias JD, Guzman VA, Igwe KC, Sanchez DL, Andrews H, Morales CD, Farrell MT, Bassil DT, Seshadri S, Wagner RG, Mngomezulu V, Manly J, Elkind MS, Berkman L, Romero JR, Maestre GE, Del Brutto OH, Brickman AM, Venketasubramanian N, Chen C, Robert C, Hilal S, Rundek T, Wasserman BA, Gutierrez J. Association of brain arterial diameters with demographic and anatomical factors in a multi-national pooled analysis of cohort studies. Neuroradiol J. 2024 Jun; 37(3):304-313. PMID: 38148489.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/18/2023
Hannawi Y, Vaishnav A, Coskun EP, Gangadhara S, Romero JR. Covert Cerebral Small Vessel Disease: Ready for Clinical Prime Time. J Am Heart Assoc. 2023 Dec 19; 12(24):e029891. PMID: 38108239.
Read at: PubMed
View 104 more publications: View full profile at BUMC