The Aging Mind Lab

Events

Park Lab at AAIC 2023
The Alzheimer's Association International Conference will be held in Amsterdam from July 16-20th. Park lab members Dr. Joseph Hennessee, Dr. Evan Smith, Sarah Monier, and Julia Bacci will present posters on their research at this renowned event. AAIC is where the world’s leading basic scientists, clinical researchers, early career investigators, clinicians, and the care research community will share breaking research discoveries that will lead to methods of prevention and treatment and improvements in diagnosis for …
Park & Smith Neurobiology of Aging Article
Dr. Denise C. Park & Dr. Evan T. Smith's article, "Longitudinal changes in gray matter correspond to changes in cognition across the lifespan: implications for theories of cognition," will appear in Volume 129 September 2023 edition of the Neurobiology of Aging. Congratulations!
2022 – Research.com Best Female Scientist Award
Congratulations to Lab Director, Dr. Denise Park for ranking in the top 1000 female scientists around the world of 2022! This is the first edition of Research.com's ranking of top female scientists worldwide. It is based on data collected from Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Graph, with their position based on their general H-index. This was a meticulous examination of 166,880 leading female scientists from around the world in all major areas of science. The …
Park and Smith Article
We are excited to announce that Dr. Denise Park and Dr. Evan Smith have been invited to publish their recent work titled “The Aging Mind: Cognitive Training and Neuroplasticity” at the Medical Research Archives of the European Society of Medicine. Congratulations!
Joe Hennessee’s NeuroImage Publication
Congratulations to Dr. Joseph Hennessee on having his publication accepted in NeuroImage for the December Issue! The article published is titled “Relationship of Prefrontal Brain Lateralization to Optimal Cognitive Function Differs with Age.
Xi Chen’s Neuroimaging Dissertation
Park Lab alumni Dr. Xi Chen recently published her dissertation titled “Functional Activation Features of Memory in Successful Agers Across the Adult Lifespan” for the August 2022 NeuroImage journal issue. Her paper figure is presented on the cover of the August issue!
News

Purpose of the Aging Mind Lab

How can we maintain a healthy mind for life?

This is one of the most urgent scientific issues confronting us in the 21st century. The cost of cognitive frailty to the aged, their families, and our medical system is staggering. A scientific understanding of how to slow the aging of the mind by five years would reduce the rate of diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. To address this issue, the Park Aging Mind Lab focuses on three goals:

How does the aging mind work?

Put simply, to understand neuropathology and the fundamental causes of Alzheimer’s disease, scientists must understand how a healthy mind works and is maintained. The study of the healthy aging mind is the bedrock upon which cures for neurologic diseases that occur with age will be built. The Dallas Lifespan Brain Study is focused on this goal and has yielded a wealth of information, with much more to come.

Can a vital , engaged life slow the rate at which the mind ages?

We think the answer to this question is “yes” based on our research. The Synapse Project is a breakthrough study of how engagement in mentally-challenging leisure activities improved cognitive function in older adults. The findings are very promising, but more work is needed to confirm and extend the original results.

Training the best new scientists

The Park Aging Mind Lab is committed to training top young scientists who are spread across the world and developing their own research. One of our mottos is “The sun never sets on Park Lab.”