Willa Brenowitz, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Epidemiology & Biostatistics
School of Medicine

I am an epidemiologist and I am broadly interested in understanding factors that contribute to brain aging. I am especially interested in the role of multimorbidity in cognitive decline, as well as the intersection of genetic, psychosocial, and health factors across the lifecourse. I am also interested in using novel statistical and epidemiologic approaches to study AD and other chronic diseases in aging.

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Much of my current research focuses on the relationship between sensory impairments (e.g. hearing and vision loss) and dementia in older adults. I am also interested in quasi experimental designs and instrumental variable analysis including Mendelian randomization. Such alternative study design offer opportunities to better understand early AD etiology and tease apart mechanisms that may contribute or be a marker of AD and brain aging.

My primary institution is Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, and I am a UCSF affiliate. I welcome student involvement, please feel free to contact me to discuss further.

Education & Training

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• BA Biology and Society Cornell University
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training University of California, San Francisco
• Postdoctoral Epidemiology of Aging/Chronic Disease University of California, San Francisco
• PhD Epidemiology University of Washington
• MPH Health Services University of Washington

Interests

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• Epidemiologic methods
• Aging
• Alzheimer's disease and related disorders
• Neuroepidemiology

Websites

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• CHR Profile (research.kpchr.org)

Grants and Projects

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• Sensory Impairments, Cognitive Decline, and Dementia: What Explains the Association?, NIH, 2019-2024

Publications (58)

Top publication keywords:
Cerebrovascular DisordersMendelian Randomization AnalysisProdromal SymptomsCataractSensation DisordersLewy Body DiseasePlaque, AmyloidCognitive DysfunctionAutopsyApolipoprotein E4DementiaHealthy AgingAlzheimer DiseaseGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseHearing Loss

• 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
• LONGITUDINAL ASSOCIATIONS OF HEARING IMPAIRMENT WITH SOCIAL ISOLATION AMONG BLACK AND WHITE OLDER ADULTS.
  Innovation in Aging 2024 Mary Thoma, Erin Ferguson, Jacqueline Torres, Nicole Armstrong, Kristine Yaffe, Willa Brenowitz
• The relationship between APOE genotype and dementia varies by genetic ancestry and race/ethnicity.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2024 Marian J Gilmore, Alexandra M Varga, Catherine Schaefer, Yambazi Banda, Thomas J. Hoffmann, M. Maria Glymour, Sheila A Weinmann, Hélène Choquet, Ning Smith, Paola Gilsanz, Stefan Massimino, Willa D …
• 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
• State Schooling Policies and Cognitive Performance Trajectories: A Natural Experiment in a National US Cohort of Black and White Adults.
  Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) 2024 Kim MH, Liu SY, Brenowitz WD, Murchland AR, Nguyen TT, Manly JJ, Howard VJ, Thomas MD, Hill-Jarrett T, Crowe M, Murchison CF, Glymour MM

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• 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
• 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
• Genetic risk score for Alzheimer's disease predicts brain volume differences in mid and late life in UK biobank participants.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2024 Buto PT, Wang J, La Joie R, Zimmerman SC, Glymour MM, Ackley SF, Hoffmann TJ, Yaffe K, Zeki Al Hazzouri A, Brenowitz WD
• Olfactory Dysfunction and Depression Trajectories in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.
  The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences 2024 Kamath V, Jiang K, Manning KJ, Mackin RS, Walker KA, Powell D, Lin FR, Chen H, Brenowitz WD, Yaffe K, Simonsick EM, Deal JA
• ASSOCIATIONS OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS AND OCULAR DISEASE WITH BRAIN VOLUMES AND DEMENTIA IN UK BIOBANK.
  Innovation in Aging 2023 Erin Ferguson, Peter Buto, Jingxuan Wang Mary Thoma, Shea Andrews Kaitlin Casaletto, Tom Hoffmann Helene Choquet, Kristine Yaffe, M Maria Glymour, Willa Brenowitz
• Food Insecurity, Memory, and Dementia Among US Adults Aged 50 Years and Older.
  JAMA network open 2023 Qian H, Khadka A, Martinez SM, Singh S, Brenowitz WD, Zeki Al Hazzouri A, Hill-Jarrett TG, Glymour MM, Vable AM
• 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
• Education, incident cancer, and rate of memory decline in a national sample of US adults in mid-to-later-life.
  Journal of geriatric oncology 2023 Ospina-Romero M, Brenowitz WD, Glymour MM, Westrick A, Graff RE, Hayes-Larson E, Mayeda ER, Ackley SF, Kobayashi LC
• Alzheimer's Disease Genetic Risk, Cognition, and Brain Aging in Midlife.
  Annals of neurology 2022 Brenowitz WD, Fornage M, Launer LJ, Habes M, Davatzikos C, Yaffe K
• Observational studies in Alzheimer disease: bridging preclinical studies and clinical trials.
  Nature reviews. Neurology 2022 Brenowitz WD, Yaffe K
• Associations of dual sensory impairment with long-term depressive and anxiety symptoms in the United States.
  Journal of affective disorders 2022 Armstrong NM, Vieira Ligo Teixeira C, Gendron C, Brenowitz WD, Lin FR, Swenor B, Powell DS, Deal JA, Simonsick EM, Jones RN
• Associations Between Handgrip Strength and Dementia Risk, Cognition, and Neuroimaging Outcomes in the UK Biobank Cohort Study.
  JAMA network open 2022 Duchowny KA, Ackley SF, Brenowitz WD, Wang J, Zimmerman SC, Caunca MR, Glymour MM
• Examining the Combined Estimated Effects of Hearing Loss and Depressive Symptoms on Risk of Cognitive Decline and Incident Dementia.
  The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences 2022 Powell DS, Brenowitz WD, Yaffe K, Armstrong NM, Reed NS, Lin FR, Gross AL, Deal JA
• Association of Genetic Variants Linked to Late-Onset Alzheimer Disease With Cognitive Test Performance by Midlife.
  JAMA network open 2022 Zimmerman SC, Brenowitz WD, Calmasini C, Ackley SF, Graff RE, Asiimwe SB, Staffaroni AM, Hoffmann TJ, Glymour MM
• Associations of dual sensory impairment with incident mobility and ADL difficulty.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2022 Armstrong NM, Vieira Ligo Teixeira C, Gendron C, Brenowitz WD, Lin FR, Swenor B, Deal JA, Simonsick EM, Jones RN
• Associations of Lower Extremity Peripheral Nerve Impairment and Risk of Dementia in Black and White Older Adults.
  Neurology 2022 Brenowitz WD, Robbins NM, Strotmeyer ES, Yaffe K
• Invited Commentary: Body Mass Index and Risk of Dementia-Potential Explanations for Life-Course Differences in Risk Estimates and Future Research Directions.
  American journal of epidemiology 2021 Brenowitz WD
• Assessing bidirectional associations between cognitive impairment and late age-related macular degeneration in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2021 Le JT, Agrón E, Keenan TDL, Clemons TE, Brenowitz WD, Yaffe K, Chew EY, AREDS2 Research Group
• Extension of Mendelian Randomization to Identify Earliest Manifestations of Alzheimer Disease: Association of Genetic Risk Score for Alzheimer Disease With Lower Body Mass Index by Age 50 Years.
  American journal of epidemiology 2021 Brenowitz WD, Zimmerman SC, Filshtein TJ, Yaffe K, Walter S, Hoffmann TJ, Jorgenson E, Whitmer RA, Glymour MM
• Current Alzheimer disease research highlights: evidence for novel risk factors.
  Chinese medical journal 2021 Brenowitz WD, Xiang Y, McEvoy CT, Yang C, Yaffe K, Le WD, Leng Y
• The Association Between Cancer and Spousal Rate of Memory Decline: A Negative Control Study to Evaluate (Unmeasured) Social Confounding of the Cancer-memory Relationship.
  Alzheimer disease and associated disorders 2021 Ospina-Romero M, Brenowitz WD, Glymour MM, Mayeda ER, Graff RE, Witte JS, Ackley SF, Lu KP, Kobayashi LC
• Methods to Address Self-Selection and Reverse Causation in Studies of Neighborhood Environments and Brain Health.
  International journal of environmental research and public health 2021 Besser LM, Brenowitz WD, Meyer OL, Hoermann S, Renne J
• Amyloid-PET imaging offers small improvements in predictions of future cognitive trajectories.
  NeuroImage. Clinical 2021 Ackley SF, Hayes-Larson E, Brenowitz WD, Swinnerton K, Mungas D, Fletcher E, Singh B, Whitmer RA, DeCarli C, Maria Glymour M
• Does Hearing Impairment Affect Physical Function?: Current Evidence, Potential Mechanisms, and Future Research Directions for Healthy Aging.
  JAMA network open 2021 Brenowitz WD, Wallhagen MI
• The Bidirectional Relationship between Vision and Cognition: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
  Ophthalmology 2021 Vu TA, Fenwick EK, Gan ATL, Man REK, Tan BKJ, Gupta P, Ho KC, Reyes-Ortiz CA, Trompet S, Gussekloo J, O'Brien JM, Mueller-Schotte S, Wong TY, Tham YC, Cheng CY, Lee ATC, Rait G, Swenor BK, Varadaraj V…
• Effect of reductions in amyloid levels on cognitive change in randomized trials: instrumental variable meta-analysis.
  BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 2021 Ackley SF, Zimmerman SC, Brenowitz WD, Tchetgen Tchetgen EJ, Gold AL, Manly JJ, Mayeda ER, Filshtein TJ, Power MC, Elahi FM, Brickman AM, Glymour MM
• Depressive Symptoms Imputed Across the Life Course Are Associated with Cognitive Impairment and Cognitive Decline.
  Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD 2021 Brenowitz WD, Zeki Al Hazzouri A, Vittinghoff E, Golden SH, Fitzpatrick AL, Yaffe K
• Association Between Alzheimer Disease and Cancer With Evaluation of Study Biases: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
  JAMA network open 2020 Ospina-Romero M, Glymour MM, Hayes-Larson E, Mayeda ER, Graff RE, Brenowitz WD, Ackley SF, Witte JS, Kobayashi LC
• Apathy and risk of probable incident dementia among community-dwelling older adults.
  Neurology 2020 Bock MA, Bahorik A, Brenowitz WD, Yaffe K
• Genetic Risk of Alzheimer's Disease and Sleep Duration in Non-Demented Elders.
  Annals of neurology 2020 Leng Y, Ackley SF, Glymour MM, Yaffe K, Brenowitz WD
• Association of genetic risk for Alzheimer disease and hearing impairment.
  Neurology 2020 Brenowitz WD, Filshtein TJ, Yaffe K, Walter S, Ackley SF, Hoffmann TJ, Jorgenson E, Whitmer RA, Glymour MM
• Clinician-judged hearing impairment and associations with neuropathologic burden.
  Neurology 2020 Brenowitz WD, Besser LM, Kukull WA, Keene CD, Glymour MM, Yaffe K
• Incident dementia and faster rates of cognitive decline are associated with worse multisensory function summary scores.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2020 Brenowitz WD, Kaup AR, Yaffe K
• Dual sensory impairment in older adults and risk of dementia from the GEM Study.
  Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 2020 Hwang PH, Longstreth WT, Brenowitz WD, Thielke SM, Lopez OL, Francis CE, DeKosky ST, Fitzpatrick AL
• Difficulty and help with activities of daily living among older adults living alone with cognitive impairment.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2020 Edwards RD, Brenowitz WD, Portacolone E, Covinsky KE, Bindman A, Glymour MM, Torres JM
• State School Policies as Predictors of Physical and Mental Health: A Natural Experiment in the REGARDS Cohort.
  American journal of epidemiology 2020 Brenowitz WD, Manly JJ, Murchland AR, Nguyen TT, Liu SY, Glymour MM, Levine DA, Crowe M, Hohman TJ, Dufouil C, Launer LJ, Hedden T, Eng CW, Wadley VG, Howard VJ
• Concordance of Clinical Alzheimer Diagnosis and Neuropathological Features at Autopsy.
  Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology 2020 Gauthreaux K, Bonnett TA, Besser LM, Brenowitz WD, Teylan M, Mock C, Chen YC, Chan KCG, Keene CD, Zhou XH, Kukull WA
• Intention to Screen for Alzheimer's Disease by Residential Locale.
  International journal of environmental research and public health 2020 Besser LM, Brenowitz WD, Park J, Tolea MI, Galvin JE
• Estimating associations between antidepressant use and incident mild cognitive impairment in older adults with depression.
  PloS one 2020 Han F, Bonnett T, Brenowitz WD, Teylan MA, Besser LM, Chen YC, Chan G, Cao KG, Gao Y, Zhou XH
• Life course biopsychosocial effects of retrospective childhood social support and later-life cognition.
  Psychology and aging 2019 Zahodne LB, Sharifian N, Manly JJ, Sumner JA, Crowe M, Wadley VG, Howard VJ, Murchland AR, Brenowitz WD, Weuve J
• Reserve and Alzheimer's disease genetic risk: Effects on hospitalization and mortality.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2019 Filshtein TJ, Brenowitz WD, Mayeda ER, Hohman TJ, Walter S, Jones RN, Elahi FM, Glymour MM
• Rate of Memory Change Before and After Cancer Diagnosis.
  JAMA network open 2019 Ospina-Romero M, Abdiwahab E, Kobayashi L, Filshtein T, Brenowitz WD, Mayeda ER, Glymour MM
• Multiple Sensory Impairment Is Associated With Increased Risk of Dementia Among Black and White Older Adults.
  The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences 2019 Brenowitz WD, Kaup AR, Lin FR, Yaffe K
• Treated hypothyroidism is associated with cerebrovascular disease but not Alzheimer's disease pathology in older adults.
  Neurobiology of aging 2017 Brenowitz WD, Han F, Kukull WA, Nelson PT
• Mixed neuropathologies and associations with domain-specific cognitive decline.
  Neurology 2017 Brenowitz WD, Hubbard RA, Keene CD, Hawes SE, Longstreth WT, Woltjer RL, Kukull WA
• Alzheimer's disease neuropathologic change, Lewy body disease, and vascular brain injury in clinic- and community-based samples.
  Neurobiology of aging 2017 Brenowitz WD, Keene CD, Hawes SE, Hubbard RA, Longstreth WT, Woltjer RL, Crane PK, Larson EB, Kukull WA
• Mixed neuropathologies and estimated rates of clinical progression in a large autopsy sample.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2016 Brenowitz WD, Hubbard RA, Keene CD, Hawes SE, Longstreth WT, Woltjer RL, Kukull WA
• Cerebral amyloid angiopathy and its co-occurrence with Alzheimer's disease and other cerebrovascular neuropathologic changes.
  Neurobiology of aging 2015 Brenowitz WD, Nelson PT, Besser LM, Heller KB, Kukull WA
• Longitudinal associations between self-rated health and performance-based physical function in a population-based cohort of older adults.
  PloS one 2014 Brenowitz WD, Hubbard RA, Crane PK, Gray SL, Zaslavsky O, Larson EB
• Social relationships and risk of incident mild cognitive impairment in U.S. Alzheimer's disease centers.
  Alzheimer disease and associated disorders 2014 Brenowitz WD, Kukull WA, Beresford SA, Monsell SE, Williams EC
• Body mass index, weight change, and clinical progression in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease.
  Alzheimer disease and associated disorders 2014 Besser LM, Gill DP, Monsell SE, Brenowitz W, Meranus DH, Kukull W, Gustafson DR
• Hippocampal sclerosis of aging is a key Alzheimer's disease mimic: clinical-pathologic correlations and comparisons with both alzheimer's disease and non-tauopathic frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
  Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD 2014 Brenowitz WD, Monsell SE, Schmitt FA, Kukull WA, Nelson PT
• Arteriolosclerosis that affects multiple brain regions is linked to hippocampal sclerosis of ageing.
  Brain : a journal of neurology 2013 Neltner JH, Abner EL, Baker S, Schmitt FA, Kryscio RJ, Jicha GA, Smith CD, Hammack E, Kukull WA, Brenowitz WD, Van Eldik LJ, Nelson PT