Agnes Lacreuse

Agnes Lacreuse is a Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where her research program focuses on cognitive aging and women's health using nonhuman primate models. Her work addresses neurocognitive aging processes, particularly Alzheimer's disease (AD), with emphasis on why two-thirds of human AD cases occur in women and how sex hormones like estrogens influence brain aging in females.

Dr. Lacreuse's research centers on hormonal mechanisms in neurocognitive aging, investigating how estrogen fluctuations affect brain health during menopause and breast cancer treatment. Her laboratory employs common marmosets as translational models to study pathological aging, developing novel therapies like brain-selective estrogen prodrugs to alleviate treatment side effects while avoiding risks of traditional hormone therapy. Key research themes include sex differences in cognitive decline, hormonal impacts on executive function, and neural mechanisms underlying age-related cognitive impairment.

Analysis of her recent publications (2019-2025) reveals consistent focus on marmoset models to dissect hormonal influences on cognition, with strong emphasis on sex-specific aging trajectories, estrogen deprivation effects from breast cancer treatments, and innovative interventions targeting menopausal symptoms. Her work bridges basic neuroscience with clinical applications, particularly in creating safer hormonal therapies for women's health issues.

Dr. Lacreuse leads an active research laboratory utilizing longitudinal marmoset studies to model human cognitive aging and menopause. Her team investigates hormonal manipulations' effects on cognition, thermoregulation, and brain networks, with current projects focused on developing DHED-based treatments to mitigate estrogen-blocking therapy side effects in breast cancer survivors.