Shea Andrews, PhD
Assistant Professor
Psychiatry
School of Medicine

The long-term goal of the Andrews Lab is to translate this knowledge into more accurate and equitable approaches to dementia risk assessment, prevention, and precision care.

The Andrews Lab combines large, deeply characterized cohort studies with statistical genetics, epidemiology, and computational biology. Current NIH- and Alzheimer’s Association–funded research examines three interconnected areas: identifying potentially causal and modifiable drivers of Alzheimer’s disease; determining how mitochondrial dysfunction and other biological aging processes contribute to disease development; and defining how genetic risk—including APOE and polygenic risk—varies across ancestry groups, environmental contexts, biomarkers, and stages of disease. The lab applies methods including genome-wide association studies, polygenic and polyexposure risk scores, Mendelian randomization, longitudinal modeling, and multi-omic data integration.

Students and trainees in the Andrews Lab work with large genetic, biomarker, neuroimaging, cognitive, and clinical datasets while developing skills in reproducible data science, scientific writing, and interdisciplinary research. Projects can be tailored to interests in genetic epidemiology, Alzheimer’s disease, health disparities, biological aging, precision medicine, or computational methods. The lab provides opportunities for trainees to develop independent questions, contribute to manuscripts and conference presentations, and collaborate with researchers across UCSF and national Alzheimer’s disease research consortia.

• Advancing Precision Dementia Care With Genetic-Exposome Risk Assessment.
  JAMA neurology 2026 Andrews SJ, Yaffe K
• Ancestry-specific effects of APOE on Alzheimer Disease Endophenotypes.
  medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2026 Boeriu AI, Gu T, Fullton-Howard B, Lucero EM, Shortt J, Gignoux C, Rajabli F, Griswold AJ, Yaffe K, Andrews SJ
• Associations of dementia polyexposure scores to Alzheimer's disease endophenotypes in diverse populations.
  medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2026 Okorie M, Jiang X, Yaffe K, Yokoyama JS, Andrews SJ, Health and Aging Brain Study – Health Disparities
• Disentangling the Causal Effects of Education and Participation Bias on Alzheimer Disease Using Mendelian Randomization.
  Neurology. Genetics 2025 Chatterjee A, Cavaillès C, Davies NM, Yaffe K, Andrews SJ
• MtDNA-depleted neuronal cell transcriptomes reveal Alzheimer's disease-related changes.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2025 Menta BW, Schueddig E, Ranjan A, Li Y, Andrews SJ, Wilkins HM, Pei D, Swerdlow RH
• The role of genomic-informed risk assessments in predicting dementia outcomes.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2025 Andrews SJ, Tolosa-Tort P, Jonson C, Fulton-Howard B, Renton AE, Yokoyama JS, Yaffe K, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
• Cross-Ancestry Polygenic Risk Scores Enhance Alzheimer's Disease Risk Prediction in Multiethnic Cohorts.
  medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2025 Okorie M, Jonson C, Oddi AP, Castruita PA, Fulton-Howard B, Yaffe K, Yokoyama JS, Udeh-Momoh C, Andrews SJ
• Mitochondrial haplogroups, but not heteroplasmy, are associated with midlife cognitive function.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2025 Yu NYD, Andrews SJ, Hou L, Fornage M, Yaffe K
• Evaluating the causal effect of mitochondrial dysfunction on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease using Polygenic Risk Scores and Mendelian Randomization.
  medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2025 Chatterjee A, Alvarez B, Sharma RU, Jonson C, Wilkins HM, Pa J, Swerdlow RH, Goate A, Yaffe K, Andrews SJ
• Measurement equivalence of the UDS version 2.0 and 3.0 neuropsychological batteries.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2025 Gaynor LS, Lopez FV, Van Hulle CA, Li C, Vasunilashorn SM, Andrews SJ, Simone SM, Mungas DM
• The Role of Genomic-Informed Risk Assessments in Predicting Dementia Outcomes.
  medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2025 Andrews SJ, Tolosa-Tort P, Jonson C, Fulton-Howard B, Renton AE, Yokoyama JS, Yaffe K
• Novel modelling approaches to elucidate the genetic architecture of resilience to Alzheimer's disease.
  Brain : a journal of neurology 2025 Phillips JM, Dumitrescu LC, Archer DB, Regelson AN, Mukherjee S, Lee ML, Choi SE, Scollard P, Trittschuh EH, Kukull WA, Biber S, Mez J, Mahoney ER, Clifton M, Libby JB, Walters S, Bush WS, Engelman CD…
• Integrative effects of Telomere Length, Epigenetic Age, and Mitochondrial DNA abundance in Alzheimer's Disease.
  medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2025 Andrews SJ, Mitchell BA, Tong T, Bonham LW, Renton AE, Zhang X, Sirota M, Tosun D, Yaffe K
• Alzheimer's disease genetic risk: Top African American risk allele frequencies and genetic architecture among Mexican-, African-, and non-Hispanic White Americans.
  Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.) 2025 Housini M, Zhou Z, Abdullah L, Pathak G, Ayoub R, Gutierrez J, Andrews S, Phillips N, O'Bryant S, Barber R, HABS-HD Study Team
• Democratizing dementia research through global online conferences.
  Nature neuroscience 2025 Zsadanyi SE, Addison E, Alladi S, Andrews SJ, Bs K, Carello-Collar G, Dubljevic O, Ehrenberg AJ, Farina FR, Grinberg LT, Ibáñez A, Martersteck A, Nigussie A, Rogalski EJ, Seibert K, Stefanova E, Yaffe…
• Genome-wide association study of long COVID.
  Nature genetics 2025 Lammi V, Nakanishi T, Jones SE, Andrews SJ, Karjalainen J, Cortés B, O'Brien HE, Ochoa-Guzman A, Fulton-Howard BE, Broberg M, Haapaniemi HH, Kanai M, Pirinen M, Schmidt A, Mitchell RE, Mousas A, …
• Snoring and risk of dementia: a prospective cohort and Mendelian randomization study.
  Sleep 2025 Gao Y, Andrews S, Daghlas I, Brenowitz WD, Raji CA, Yaffe K, Leng Y
• Dementia risk scores, apolipoprotein E, and risk of Alzheimer's disease: One size does not fit all.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2024 Andrews SJ, Boeriu AI, Belloy ME, Renton AE, Fulton-Howard B, Brenowitz WD, Yaffe K, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
• Causal Associations of Sleep Apnea With Alzheimer Disease and Cardiovascular Disease: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Analysis.
  Journal of the American Heart Association 2024 Cavaillès C, Andrews SJ, Leng Y, Chatterjee A, Daghlas I, Yaffe K
• Dementia Risk Scores, APOE, and risk of Alzheimer disease: one size does not fit all.
  medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2024 Andrews SJ, Boeriu AI, Belloy ME, Renton AE, Fulton-Howard B, Brenowitz WD, Yaffe K, Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
• Proteomics identifies potential immunological drivers of postinfection brain atrophy and cognitive decline.
  Nature aging 2024 Duggan MR, Peng Z, Sipilä PN, Lindbohm JV, Chen J, Lu Y, Davatzikos C, Erus G, Hohman TJ, Andrews SJ, Candia J, Tanaka T, Joynes CM, Alvarado CX, Nalls MA, Cordon J, Daya GN, An Y, Lewis A, Moghekar A…
• Disentangling the causal effects of education and participation bias on Alzheimer's disease using Mendelian Randomization.
  medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2024 Chatterjee A, Cavaillès C, Davies NM, Yaffe K, Andrews SJ
• Visual Impairment, Eye Conditions, and Diagnoses of Neurodegeneration and Dementia.
  JAMA network open 2024 Ferguson EL, Thoma M, Buto PT, Wang J, Glymour MM, Hoffmann TJ, Choquet H, Andrews SJ, Yaffe K, Casaletto K, Brenowitz WD
• APOE Genotype and Alzheimer Disease Risk Across Age, Sex, and Population Ancestry.
  JAMA neurology 2023 Belloy ME, Andrews SJ, Le Guen Y, Cuccaro M, Farrer LA, Napolioni V, Greicius MD
• Causal Associations of Sleep Apnea with Alzheimer's Disease and Cardiovascular Disease: a Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Analysis.
  medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2023 Cavaillès C, Andrews SJ, Leng Y, Chatterjee A, Daghlas I, Yaffe K
• Snoring and risk of dementia: a prospective cohort and Mendelian randomization study.
  medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2023 Gao Y, Andrews S, Brenowitz W, Raji CA, Yaffe K, Leng Y
• Blood-Based Transcriptomic Biomarkers Are Predictive of Neurodegeneration Rather Than Alzheimer's Disease.
  International journal of molecular sciences 2023 Shvetcov A, Thomson S, Spathos J, Cho AN, Wilkins HM, Andrews SJ, Delerue F, Couttas TA, Issar JK, Isik F, Kaur S, Drummond E, Dobson-Stone C, Duffy SL, Rogers NM, Catchpoole D, Gold WA, Swerdlow RH, …
• Shared genetic risk loci between Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
  Alzheimer's research & therapy 2023 Wainberg M, Andrews SJ, Tripathy SJ
• Genetic associations with age at dementia onset in the PSEN1 E280A Colombian kindred.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2023 Cochran JN, Acosta-Uribe J, Esposito BT, Madrigal L, Aguillón D, Giraldo MM, Taylor JW, Bradley J, Fulton-Howard B, Andrews SJ, Acosta-Baena N, Alzate D, Garcia GP, Piedrahita F, Lopez HE, Anderson AG…
• The complex genetic architecture of Alzheimer's disease: novel insights and future directions.
  EBioMedicine 2023 Andrews SJ, Renton AE, Fulton-Howard B, Podlesny-Drabiniok A, Marcora E, Goate AM
• Microglial efferocytosis: Diving into the Alzheimer's disease gene pool.
  Neuron 2022 Romero-Molina C, Garretti F, Andrews SJ, Marcora E, Goate AM
• The role of mitochondrial genome abundance in Alzheimer's disease.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2022 Harerimana NV, Paliwali D, Romero-Molina C, Bennett DA, Pa J, Goate A, Swerdlow RH, Andrews SJ
• Sex differences in the genetic architecture of cognitive resilience to Alzheimer's disease.
  Brain : a journal of neurology 2022 Eissman JM, Dumitrescu L, Mahoney ER, Smith AN, Mukherjee S, Lee ML, Scollard P, Choi SE, Bush WS, Engelman CD, Lu Q, Fardo DW, Trittschuh EH, Mez J, Kaczorowski CC, Hernandez Saucedo H, Widaman KF, …
• A Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroup Defines Patterns of Five-Year Cognitive Change.
  Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD 2022 Watts A, Chalise P, Hu J, Hui D, Pa J, Andrews SJ, Michaelis EK, Swerdlow RH
• Integrative metabolomics-genomics approach reveals key metabolic pathways and regulators of Alzheimer's disease.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2021 Horgusluoglu E, Neff R, Song WM, Wang M, Wang Q, Arnold M, Krumsiek J, Galindo-Prieto B, Ming C, Nho K, Kastenmüller G, Han X, Baillie R, Zeng Q, Andrews S, Cheng H, Hao K, Goate A, Bennett DA, Saykin…
• Genome-wide association study and functional validation implicates JADE1 in tauopathy.
  Acta neuropathologica 2021 Farrell K, Kim S, Han N, Iida MA, Gonzalez EM, Otero-Garcia M, Walker JM, Richardson TE, Renton AE, Andrews SJ, Fulton-Howard B, Humphrey J, Vialle RA, Bowles KR, de Paiva Lopes K, Whitney K, Dangoor …
• A globally diverse reference alignment and panel for imputation of mitochondrial DNA variants.
  BMC bioinformatics 2021 McInerney TW, Fulton-Howard B, Patterson C, Paliwal D, Jermiin LS, Patel HR, Pa J, Swerdlow RH, Goate A, Easteal S, Andrews SJ, for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
• Mitochondrial pathway polygenic risk scores are associated with Alzheimer's Disease.
  Neurobiology of aging 2021 Paliwal D, McInerney TW, Pa J, Swerdlow RH, Easteal S, Andrews SJ, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
• Mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19.
  Nature 2021 COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative
• Beyond association: successes and challenges in linking non-coding genetic variation to functional consequences that modulate Alzheimer's disease risk.
  Molecular neurodegeneration 2021 Novikova G, Andrews SJ, Renton AE, Marcora E
• Shared genetic etiology between idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and COVID-19 severity.
  EBioMedicine 2021 Fadista J, Kraven LM, Karjalainen J, Andrews SJ, Geller F, COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative, Baillie JK, Wain LV, Jenkins RG, Feenstra B
• The variant call format provides efficient and robust storage of GWAS summary statistics.
  Genome biology 2021 Lyon MS, Andrews SJ, Elsworth B, Gaunt TR, Hemani G, Marcora E
• Causal Associations Between Modifiable Risk Factors and the Alzheimer's Phenome.
  Annals of neurology 2020 Andrews SJ, Fulton-Howard B, O'Reilly P, Marcora E, Goate AM, collaborators of the Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium
• Genetic variants and functional pathways associated with resilience to Alzheimer's disease.
  Brain : a journal of neurology 2020 Dumitrescu L, Mahoney ER, Mukherjee S, Lee ML, Bush WS, Engelman CD, Lu Q, Fardo DW, Trittschuh EH, Mez J, Kaczorowski C, Hernandez Saucedo H, Widaman KF, Buckley R, Properzi M, Mormino E, Yang HS, …
• Exploratory analysis of mtDNA haplogroups in two Alzheimer's longitudinal cohorts.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2020 Swerdlow RH, Hui D, Chalise P, Sharma P, Wang X, Andrews SJ, Pa J, Mahnken JD, Morris J, Wilkins HM, Burns JM, Michaelis ML, Michaelis EK, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI)
• Role of apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 (APOE*ε4) as an independent risk factor for incident depression over a 12-year period in cognitively intact adults across the lifespan.
  BJPsych open 2020 Burns RA, Andrews S, Cherbuin N, Anstey KJ
• Interpretation of risk loci from genome-wide association studies of Alzheimer's disease.
  The Lancet. Neurology 2020 Andrews SJ, Fulton-Howard B, Goate A
• Association between alcohol consumption and Alzheimer's disease: A Mendelian randomization study.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2020 Andrews SJ, Goate A, Anstey KJ
• Investigation of antihypertensive class, dementia, and cognitive decline: A meta-analysis.
  Neurology 2019 Peters R, Yasar S, Anderson CS, Andrews S, Antikainen R, Arima H, Beckett N, Beer JC, Bertens AS, Booth A, van Boxtel M, Brayne C, Brodaty H, Carlson MC, Chalmers J, Corrada M, DeKosky S, Derby C, …
• Mitonuclear interactions influence Alzheimer's disease risk.
  Neurobiology of aging 2019 Andrews SJ, Fulton-Howard B, Patterson C, McFall GP, Gross A, Michaelis EK, Goate A, Swerdlow RH, Pa J, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
• Mendelian randomization indicates that TNF is not causally associated with Alzheimer's disease.
  Neurobiology of aging 2019 Andrews SJ, Goate A
• Mitochondria and Alzheimer's: Is PTCD1 the Smoking Gun?
  Trends in neurosciences 2019 Pa J, Andrews SJ, Swerdlow RH
• Alzheimer's Environmental and Genetic Risk Scores are Differentially Associated With General Cognitive Ability and Dementia Severity.
  Alzheimer disease and associated disorders 2019 Andrews SJ, McFall GP, Dixon RA, Cherbuin N, Eramudugolla R, Anstey KJ
• Protective Variants in Alzheimer's Disease.
  Current genetic medicine reports 2019 Andrews SJ, Fulton-Howard B, Goate A
• Association of Alzheimer's Disease Genetic Risk Loci with Cognitive Performance and Decline: A Systematic Review.
  Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD 2019 Andrews SJ, McFall GP, Booth A, Dixon RA, Anstey KJ
• Association of Alzheimer's genetic loci with mild behavioral impairment.
  American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics 2018 Andrews SJ, Ismail Z, Anstey KJ, Mortby M
• Sex Differences in the Impact of BDNF Genotype on the Longitudinal Relationship between Physical Activity and Cognitive Performance.
  Gerontology 2018 Watts A, Andrews SJ, Anstey KJ
• Memory Resilience to Alzheimer's Genetic Risk: Sex Effects in Predictor Profiles.
  The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences 2017 McDermott KL, McFall GP, Andrews SJ, Anstey KJ, Dixon RA
• Validating the role of the Australian National University Alzheimer's Disease Risk Index (ANU-ADRI) and a genetic risk score in progression to cognitive impairment in a population-based cohort of older adults followed for 12 years.
  Alzheimer's research & therapy 2017 Andrews SJ, Eramudugolla R, Velez JI, Cherbuin N, Easteal S, Anstey KJ
• Association of AKAP6 and MIR2113 with cognitive performance in a population-based sample of older adults.
  Genes, brain, and behavior 2017 Andrews SJ, Das D, Anstey KJ, Easteal S
• Late Onset Alzheimer's Disease Risk Variants in Cognitive Decline: The PATH Through Life Study.
  Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD 2017 Andrews SJ, Das D, Anstey KJ, Easteal S
• Association of genetic risk factors with cognitive decline: the PATH through life project.
  Neurobiology of aging 2016 Andrews SJ, Das D, Cherbuin N, Anstey KJ, Easteal S
• APOE*E2 allele delays age of onset in PSEN1 E280A Alzheimer's disease.
  Molecular psychiatry 2015 Vélez JI, Lopera F, Sepulveda-Falla D, Patel HR, Johar AS, Chuah A, Tobón C, Rivera D, Villegas A, Cai Y, Peng K, Arkell R, Castellanos FX, Andrews SJ, Silva Lara MF, Creagh PK, Easteal S, de Leon J, …
• Interactive effect of APOE genotype and blood pressure on cognitive decline: the PATH through life study.
  Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD 2015 Andrews S, Das D, Anstey KJ, Easteal S
• Emerging evidence for functional peptides encoded by short open reading frames.
  Nature reviews. Genetics 2014 Andrews SJ, Rothnagel JA
• The prognostic and therapeutic implications of cytologic atypia in patients with endometrial hyperplasia.
  Gynecologic oncology 1994 Hunter JE, Tritz DE, Howell MG, DePriest PD, Gallion HH, Andrews SJ, Buckley SB, Kryscio RJ, van Nagell JR