Peter Ljubenkov, MD
Associate Professor
Neurology
School of Medicine

He has special expertise in diagnosing and treating frontotemporal dementia (a group of neurodegenerative diseases that affect the frontal and temporal lobes) and related conditions, including progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration. Ljubenkov also serves as the associate fellowship director of the UCSF Memory and Aging Center's Behavioral Neurology Training Program fellowship, which trains doctors for careers in research and clinical care involving patients with dementia.

In research, Ljubenkov is active in clinical therapeutic trials, studies enrolling human participants to explore new potential treatments for patients with dementia.

Ljubenkov earned his medical degree at Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. He completed a residency in neurology at the University of California, San Diego, followed by a fellowship in behavioral neurology at UCSF.

• Clinical value of CSF TMEM106B in familial and sporadic frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2023 Julio C. Rojas, Yann Cobigo, Amy B. Wise, Jingyao Li, Joseph Loureiro, Katie Worringer, Hilary W. Heuer, Peter A. Ljubenkov, Lawren VandeVrede, Adam M. Staffaroni, Argentina Lario Lago, Eliana Marisa …
• Validation of Cerebrospinal Fluid Alpha-synuclein Assay against Autopsy in Non-Parkinson’s Disease Neurodegenerative Syndromes.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2023 Niyatee Samudra, Peter A. Ljubenkov, Julio C. Rojas, Adam M. Staffaroni, Fattin Wekselman, Lamoureux Jennifer, Lea T. Grinberg, Adam L. Boxer, Lawren VandeVrede
• [18F]PI-2620 Binding Patterns in Patients with Suspected Alzheimer Disease and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration.
  Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine 2023 Blazhenets G, Soleimani-Meigooni DN, Thomas W, Mundada N, Brendel M, Vento S, VandeVrede L, Heuer HW, Ljubenkov P, Rojas JC, Chen MK, Amuiri AN, Miller Z, Gorno-Tempini ML, Miller BL, Rosen HJ, Litvan…
• Co-pathology may impact outcomes of amyloid-targeting treatments: clinicopathological results from two patients treated with aducanumab.
  Acta neuropathologica 2023 VandeVrede L, La Joie R, Horiki S, Mundada NS, Koestler M, Hwang JH, Ljubenkov PA, Rojas JC, Rabinovici GD, Boxer AL, Seeley WW
• Silencing tau to treat early Alzheimer's disease.
  Nature medicine 2023 Ljubenkov PA, Rabinovici GD
• Evaluation of Plasma Phosphorylated Tau217 for Differentiation Between Alzheimer Disease and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Subtypes Among Patients With Corticobasal Syndrome.
  JAMA neurology 2023 VandeVrede L, La Joie R, Thijssen EH, Asken BM, Vento SA, Tsuei T, Baker SL, Cobigo Y, Fonseca C, Heuer HW, Kramer JH, Ljubenkov PA, Rabinovici GD, Rojas JC, Rosen HJ, Staffaroni AM, Boeve BF, …
• Plasma inflammation for predicting phenotypic conversion and clinical progression of autosomal dominant frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
  Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry 2023 Asken BM, Ljubenkov PA, Staffaroni AM, Casaletto KB, Vandevrede L, Cobigo Y, Rojas-Rodriguez JC, Rankin KP, Kornak J, Heuer H, Shigenaga J, Appleby BS, Bozoki AC, Domoto-Reilly K, Ghoshal N, Huey E, …
• Autopsy Results from the ENGAGE Trial of Aducanumab: Lessons from Co-pathology.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2022 Sheena Horiki, Lawren VandeVrede, Renaud La Joie, Peter A. Ljubenkov, Mary Koestler, Julio C. Rojas, Gil D. Rabinovici, Adam L. Boxer, William W. Seeley
• Introduction to Veri-T: A Phase 1 Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multicenter Trial of Verdiperstat in Patients with svPPA Due to FTLD-TDP.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2022 Peter A. Ljubenkov, Adam M. Staffaroni, Julio C. Rojas, Lawren VandeVrede, Mary Koestler, Tayler A Sulse, Julia Moreton, Sheena Horiki, Hilary W. Heuer, Ian Grant, David J. Irwin, Bradley F. Boeve, …
• The Neurofilament Surveillance Project (NSP): A biomarker study to sample blood quarterly in familial frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2022 Rachel Acuna-Narvaez, Hilary W. Heuer, Leah K. Forsberg, Anne Alward, Danielle Graham, Ann Fishman, Kevin M Nelson, Tyler Kolander, Howard M Fillit, Wendy R Galpern, Serena Hung, Chris Mason, Laurence…
• [18F]PI-2620 PET in four-repeat tauopathies: a preliminary study.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2022 David N. Soleimani-Meigooni, Wesley P. Thomas, Matthias Brendel, Stephanie Vento, Hilary W. Heuer, Peter A. Ljubenkov, Julio C. Rojas, Miranda Chen, Leonardo Iaccarino, Renaud La Joie, Nidhi S. …
• Temporal order of clinical and biomarker changes in familial frontotemporal dementia.
  Nature medicine 2022 Staffaroni AM, Quintana M, Wendelberger B, Heuer HW, Russell LL, Cobigo Y, Wolf A, Goh SM, Petrucelli L, Gendron TF, Heller C, Clark AL, Taylor JC, Wise A, Ong E, Forsberg L, Brushaber D, Rojas JC, …
• Sensitivity of the Social Behavior Observer Checklist to Early Symptoms of Patients With Frontotemporal Dementia.
  Neurology 2022 Toller G, Cobigo Y, Ljubenkov PA, Appleby BS, Dickerson BC, Domoto-Reilly K, Fong JC, Forsberg LK, Gavrilova RH, Ghoshal N, Heuer HW, Knopman DS, Kornak J, Lapid MI, Litvan I, Lucente DE, Mackenzie IR…
• Case Report: Novel CSF1R Variant in a Patient With Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia Syndrome With Prodromal Repetitive Scratching Behavior.
  Frontiers in neurology 2022 Friedberg A, Ramos EM, Yang Z, Bonham LW, Yokoyama JS, Ljubenkov PA, Younes K, Geschwind DH, Miller BL
• Clinical Trial Development in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration.
  2022 Peter A. Ljubenkov, Adam Boxer
• Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers in Autopsy-Confirmed Alzheimer Disease and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration.
  Neurology 2022 Mattsson-Carlgren N, Grinberg LT, Boxer A, Ossenkoppele R, Jonsson M, Seeley W, Ehrenberg A, Spina S, Janelidze S, Rojas-Martinex J, Rosen H, La Joie R, Lesman-Segev O, Iaccarino L, Kollmorgen G, …
• A phase 1b, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel cohort safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and preliminary efficacy study of intravenously infused BIIB092 in patients with four different primary tauopathy syndromes.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2021 Peter A. Ljubenkov, Lawren Vandevrede, Julio C. Rojas, Richard Tsai, Mary Koestler, Danielle Graham, Tien Dam, Adam L. Boxer
• Clinical value of CSF tau, p-tau181, neurogranin and neurofilaments in familial frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2021 Julio C. Rojas, Hilary W. Heuer, Weiping Chen, Julie Czerkowicz, Danielle Graham, Leah K. Forsberg, Danielle Brushaber, Brian Appleby, Eliana Marisa Ramos, Giovanni Coppolla, Yvette M. Bordelon, Hugo …
• Demographic and psychosocial factors associated with the decision to learn mutation status in familial frontotemporal dementia and the impact of disclosure on mood.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2021 Lynn P. Bajorek, Rachel Kiekhofer, Matthew Hall, Joanne Taylor, Diane E Lucente, Danielle Brushaber, Brian Appleby, Giovanni Coppolla, Yvette M Bordelon, Hugo Botha, Brad C Dickerson, Dennis W Dickson…
• Diagnostic value of plasma P-tau217 in frontotemporal dementia spectrum disorders.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2021 Julio C. Rojas, Lawren Vandevrede, Hilary W. Heuer, Gianina Toller, Elisabeth H. Thijssen, Nicholas Proctor, Leah K. Forsberg, Danielle Brushaber, Eliana Marisa Ramos, Giovanni Coppola, Brian Appleby,…
• Gearing up for the future: Exploring facilitators and barriers to inform clinical trial design in frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2021 Yasmin B Banga, Yujung Lai, Priscilla Kim, Bradley F Boeve, Adam L Boxer, Howard J Rosen, Leah K Forsberg, Hilary W Heuer, Danielle Brushaber, Brian Appleby, Joanna M Biernacka, Yvette M Bordelon, …
• Effect of the Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor FRM-0334 on Progranulin Levels in Patients With Progranulin Gene Haploinsufficiency: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
  JAMA network open 2021 Ljubenkov PA, Edwards L, Iaccarino L, La Joie R, Rojas JC, Koestler M, Harris B, Boeve BF, Borroni B, van Swieten JC, Grossman M, Pasquier F, Frisoni GB, Mummery CJ, Vandenberghe R, Le Ber I, …
• Best Practices in the Clinical Management of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Corticobasal Syndrome: A Consensus Statement of the CurePSP Centers of Care.
  Frontiers in neurology 2021 Bluett B, Pantelyat AY, Litvan I, Ali F, Apetauerova D, Bega D, Bloom L, Bower J, Boxer AL, Dale ML, Dhall R, Duquette A, Fernandez HH, Fleisher JE, Grossman M, Howell M, Kerwin DR, Leegwater-Kim J, …
• Plasma Neurofilament Light for Prediction of Disease Progression in Familial Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration.
  Neurology 2021 Rojas JC, Wang P, Staffaroni AM, Heller C, Cobigo Y, Wolf A, Goh SM, Ljubenkov PA, Heuer HW, Fong JC, Taylor JB, Veras E, Song L, Jeromin A, Hanlon D, Yu L, Khinikar A, Sivasankaran R, Kieloch A, …
• FTLD Treatment: Current Practice and Future Possibilities.
  Advances in experimental medicine and biology 2021 Ljubenkov PA, Boxer AL
• Lipid metabolism dysfunction in progranulin mutation carriers: Unbiased metabolomics reveals strong relationship to clinical status in FTLD.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2020 Lawren Vandevrede, Julio C. Rojas, Ping Wang, Hilary W. Heuer, Anna M. Karydas, Peter A. Ljubenkov, Bradley F. Boeve, Howard J. Rosen, Adam L. Boxer, ARTFL and LEFFTDS Consortia Investigators
• Neuropsychiatric abnormalities in familial frontotemporal dementia: Findings from the LEFFTDS Cohort.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2020 Leah K. Forsberg, Bradley F. Boeve, Howard J. Rosen, Adam L. Boxer, Jeremy Syrjanen, Danielle Brushaber, Giovanni Coppolla, Brad C. Dickerson, Julie A. Fields, Jamie Fong, Ralitza H. Gavrilova, Nupur …
• Plasma biomarkers of inflammation reflect disease state in autosomal dominant forms of familial frontotemporal dementia.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2020 Peter A. Ljubenkov, Adam M. Staffaroni, Kaitlin B. Casaletto, Julio C. Rojas, Lawren Vandevrede, Hilary W. Heuer, Fanny M. Elahi, Danielle Brushaber, Tatiana M. Foroud, Leah K. Forsberg, Anna M. …
• Plasma neurofilament light chain levels reflect caregiver burden and social cognition measures in familial frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2020 Hilary W. Heuer, Julio C. Rojas, Gianina Toller, Katherine Rankin, Danielle Brushaber, Brian Appleby, Yvette M. Bordelon, Brad C. Dickerson, Domoto-Reilly Kimiko, Kelley Faber, Tatiana M. Foroud, Leah…
• Studying the natural history of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD): The ARTFL LEFFTDS longitudinal FTLD (ALLFTD) protocol.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2020 Bradley F. Boeve, Adam L. Boxer, Howard J. Rosen, Leah K. Forsberg, Hilary W. Heuer, Danielle Brushaber, Brian Appleby, Joanna M. Biernacka, Yvette M. Bordelon, Hugo Botha, Patrick Brannelly, Brad C. …
• Symptomatic amyloid-related imaging abnormalities in an APOE ε4/ε4 patient treated with aducanumab.
  Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 2020 VandeVrede L, Gibbs DM, Koestler M, La Joie R, Ljubenkov PA, Provost K, Soleimani-Meigooni D, Strom A, Tsoy E, Rabinovici GD, Boxer AL
• Four-Repeat Tauopathies: Current Management and Future Treatments.
  Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics 2020 VandeVrede L, Ljubenkov PA, Rojas JC, Welch AE, Boxer AL
• The ARTFL LEFFTDS Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (ALLFTD) Protocol: Preliminary Data and Future Plans (2081).
  Neurology 2020 Bradley Boeve, Adam Boxer, Howard Rosen, Leah Forsberg, Hilary Heuer, Danielle Brushaber, Brian Appleby, Joanna Biernacka, Yvette Bordelon, Hugo Botha, Patrick Brannelly, Bradford Dickerson, Susan …
• Open-Label Phase 1 Futility Studies of Salsalate and Young Plasma in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.
  Movement disorders clinical practice 2020 VandeVrede L, Dale ML, Fields S, Frank M, Hare E, Heuer HW, Keith K, Koestler M, Ljubenkov PA, McDermott D, Ohanesian N, Richards J, Rojas JC, Thijssen EH, Walsh C, Wang P, Wolf A, Quinn JF, Tsai R, …
• Association of Cognitive and Behavioral Features Between Adults With Tuberous Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia.
  JAMA neurology 2020 Liu AJ, Staffaroni AM, Rojas-Martinez JC, Olney NT, Alquezar-Burillo C, Ljubenkov PA, La Joie R, Fong JC, Taylor J, Karydas A, Ramos EM, Coppola G, Boxer AL, Rabinovici GD, Miller BL, Kao AW
• Reactions to Multiple Ascending Doses of the Microtubule Stabilizer TPI-287 in Patients With Alzheimer Disease, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, and Corticobasal Syndrome: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
  JAMA neurology 2020 Tsai RM, Miller Z, Koestler M, Rojas JC, Ljubenkov PA, Rosen HJ, Rabinovici GD, Fagan AM, Cobigo Y, Brown JA, Jung JI, Hare E, Geldmacher DS, Natelson-Love M, McKinley EC, Luong PN, Chuu EL, Powers R,…
• Clinical and volumetric changes with increasing functional impairment in familial frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2020 Olney NT, Ong E, Goh SM, Bajorek L, Dever R, Staffaroni AM, Cobigo Y, Bock M, Chiang K, Ljubenkov P, Kornak J, Heuer HW, Wang P, Rascovsky K, Wolf A, Appleby B, Bove J, Bordelon Y, Brannelly P, …
• Individualized atrophy scores predict dementia onset in familial frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2020 Staffaroni AM, Cobigo Y, Goh SM, Kornak J, Bajorek L, Chiang K, Appleby B, Bove J, Bordelon Y, Brannelly P, Brushaber D, Caso C, Coppola G, Dever R, Dheel C, Dickerson BC, Dickinson S, Dominguez S, …
• Assessment of executive function declines in presymptomatic and mildly symptomatic familial frontotemporal dementia: NIH-EXAMINER as a potential clinical trial endpoint.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2020 Staffaroni AM, Bajorek L, Casaletto KB, Cobigo Y, Goh SM, Wolf A, Heuer HW, Elahi FM, Ljubenkov PA, Dever R, Kornak J, Appleby B, Bove J, Bordelon Y, Brannelly P, Brushaber D, Caso C, Coppola G, Dheel…
• Comparison of sporadic and familial behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in a North American cohort.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2020 Heuer HW, Wang P, Rascovsky K, Wolf A, Appleby B, Bove J, Bordelon Y, Brannelly P, Brushaber DE, Caso C, Coppola G, Dickerson B, Dickinson S, Domoto-Reilly K, Faber K, Ferrall J, Fields J, Fishman A, …
• Genetic screening of a large series of North American sporadic and familial frontotemporal dementia cases.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2020 Ramos EM, Dokuru DR, Van Berlo V, Wojta K, Wang Q, Huang AY, Deverasetty S, Qin Y, van Blitterswijk M, Jackson J, Appleby B, Bordelon Y, Brannelly P, Brushaber DE, Dickerson B, Dickinson S, Domoto-…
• Nonlinear Z-score modeling for improved detection of cognitive abnormality.
  Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 2019 Kornak J, Fields J, Kremers W, Farmer S, Heuer HW, Forsberg L, Brushaber D, Rindels A, Dodge H, Weintraub S, Besser L, Appleby B, Bordelon Y, Bove J, Brannelly P, Caso C, Coppola G, Dever R, Dheel C, …
• Peripheral Innate Immune Activation Correlates With Disease Severity in GRN Haploinsufficiency.
  Frontiers in neurology 2019 Ljubenkov PA, Miller Z, Mumford P, Zhang J, Allen IE, Mitic L, Staffaroni A, Heuer H, Rojas JC, Cobigo Y, Karydas A, Pearlman R, Miller B, Kramer JH, McGrath MS, Rosen HJ, Boxer AL
• FRONTOTEMPORAL LOBAR DEGENERATION RESEARCH IN NORTH AMERICA: PROGRESS IN THE ARTFL/LEFFTDS CONSORTIA.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2019 Hilary W. Heuer, Adam L. Boxer, Bradley F. Boeve, Howard J. Rosen, Leah K. Forsberg, Danielle Brushaber, Brian Appleby, Yvette M. Bordelon, Patrick Brannelly, Giovanni Coppola, Brad C. Dickerson, …
• THE MULTIDOMAIN IMPAIRMENT RATING (MIR) SCALE: INITIAL RELIABILITY DATA ON A MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALE DESIGNED FOR FTLD SPECTRUM DISORDERS.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2019 Leah K. Forsberg, Bradley F. Boeve, Adam L. Boxer, Howard J. Rosen, John Kornak, Hilary W. Heuer, Julie A. Fields, Danielle Brushaber, Mary M. Machulda, Virginia Sturm, Adam M. Staffaroni, Peter A. …
• The Multidomain Impairment Rating (MIR) Scale: Initial Reliability Data on a Multidimensional Scale for FTLD (P5.1-010).
  Neurology 2019 Brad Boeve, Howard Rosen, Adam Boxer, John Kornak, Hilary Heuer, Julie Fields, Leah Forsberg, Danielle Brushaber, Mary Machulda, Virginia Sturm, Peter Ljubenkov, Reilly Dever, Jeremy Syrjanen, Walter …
• Longitudinal multimodal imaging and clinical endpoints for frontotemporal dementia clinical trials.
  Brain : a journal of neurology 2019 Staffaroni AM, Ljubenkov PA, Kornak J, Cobigo Y, Datta S, Marx G, Walters SM, Chiang K, Olney N, Elahi FM, Knopman DS, Dickerson BC, Boeve BF, Gorno-Tempini ML, Spina S, Grinberg LT, Seeley WW, Miller…
• Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers predict frontotemporal dementia trajectory.
  Annals of clinical and translational neurology 2018 Ljubenkov PA, Staffaroni AM, Rojas JC, Allen IE, Wang P, Heuer H, Karydas A, Kornak J, Cobigo Y, Seeley WW, Grinberg LT, Spina S, Fagan AM, Jerome G, Knopman D, Boeve BF, Dickerson BC, Kramer J, …
• THE NIH-EXAMINER IS SENSITIVE TO COGNITIVE CHANGES IN ASYMPTOMATIC AND MILDLY SYMPTOMATIC FAMILIAL FRONTOTEMPORAL DEMENTIA.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2018 Adam M. Staffaroni, Lynn Bajorek, Peter Ljubenkov, Kaitlin Casaletto, Fanny Elahi, Katya Rascovsky, Bradley F. Boeve, Adam L. Boxer, Jessica Bove, Danielle Brushaber, Giovanni Coppola, Christina Dheel…
• Peripheral Innate Immune Activation Correlates with Disease Severity in GRN Mutation Carriers (P4.178).
  Neurology 2018 Peter Ljubenkov, Paige Mumford, Michael McGrath, Isabel Elaine Allen, Zachary Miller, Laura Mitic, Anna Karydas, Hilary Heuer, Julio Rojas-Martinez, Ping Wang, Jane Zhang, Adam Staffaroni, Yann Cobigo…
• A Clinical Guide to Frontotemporal Dementias.
  Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing) 2016 Ljubenkov PA, Miller BL
• Dementia.
  Seminars in neurology 2016 Ljubenkov PA, Geschwind MD