Katherine A. Gifford, PsyD

Associate Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Katherine Gifford is a clinical neuropsychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. She is a Investigator within the Precision Brain Health Initiative (https://www.bumc.bu.edu/pbhi/) and the Framingham Heart Study- Brain Aging Program. Dr. Gifford’s research focuses on disorders of aging, dementia, and developing tools for early detection of cognitive impairment. Her research incudes a specific emphasis on understanding subjective cognitive decline in older adults, or when people start to notice changes in their own memory and thinking. She is involved in independent and collaborative research projects that improve early identification of unhealthy aging, clinical phenotyping of abnormal brain aging (i.e., Alzheimer's disease and related disorder), and health care education to improve primary care management of dementias.

Before joining the BUSM faculty, she was an Associate Professor (tenured) of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Co-Director of the Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center, and Clinical Core Co-Leader of the Vanderbilt Exploratory Alzheimer's Disease Center. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY and her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, FL. She completed her pre-doctoral internship in neuropsychology at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, MI. Her postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology was completed at Boston University and at Vanderbilt University.

Publications

  • Published 1/1/2026

    Durant A, Mukherjee S, Lee ML, Choi SE, Scollard P, Klinedinst BS, Trittschuh EH, Mez J, Farrer LA, Gifford KA, Cruchaga C, Hassenstab J, Naj AC, Wang LS, Johnson SC, Engelman CD, Kukull WA, Keene CD, Saykin AJ, Cuccaro ML, Kunkle BW, Pericak-Vance MA, Martin ER, Bennett DA, Barnes LL, Schneider JA, Bush WS, Haines JL, Mayeux R, Vardarajan BN, Albert MS, Thompson PM, Jefferson AL, Crane PK, Dumitrescu L, Archer DB, Hohman TJ, Gaynor LS. Evaluating the association of apolipoprotein E genotype and cognitive resilience in SuperAgers. Alzheimers Dement. 2026 Jan; 22(1):e71024. PMID: 41542929.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 11/6/2025

    Butterbrod E, Rabin L, Tommet D, Jones RN, Dubbelman MA, Crane PK, Jessen F, van der Flier WM, Gifford KA, Sikkes SAM. Perspectives on the measurement of self-perceived cognitive function in older adults. Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2025; 17(4):e70158. PMID: 41211302.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 11/1/2025

    Bolton CJ, Zhang P, Wilhoite SR, Moore EE, Houston ML, Pechman KR, Dumitrescu L, Peterson A, Khan OA, Liu D, Gifford KA, Blennow K, Hohman TJ, Zetterberg H, Jefferson AL. Increased neuroplastic activity in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimers Dement. 2025 Nov; 21(11):e70897. PMID: 41315049.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 10/27/2025

    Seto M, Clifton M, Gomez ML, Coughlan G, Gifford KA, Jefferson AL, De Jager PL, Bennett DA, Wang Y, Barnes LL, Schneider JA, Hohman TJ, Buckley RF, Dumitrescu L. Sex-specific associations of gene expression with Alzheimer's disease neuropathology and ante-mortem cognitive performance. Nat Commun. 2025 Oct 27; 16(1):9466. PMID: 41145521.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 10/1/2025

    Bolton CJ, Khan OA, Liu D, Pechman KR, Gifford KA, Hohman TJ, Blennow K, Zetterberg H, Jefferson AL. Combining plasma p-tau231 and glial fibrillary acidic protein produces higher discriminative accuracy for amyloid positivity than other blood-based biomarker combinations. Alzheimers Dement. 2025 Oct; 21(10):e70796. PMID: 41065027.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 107 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Websites

Education

  • Florida Institute of Technology, PsyD
  • Florida Institute of Technology, MS
  • Skidmore College, BA

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