Ana Daugherty

Ana Daugherty is an Associate Professor affiliated with the Institute of Gerontology and Department of Psychology at Wayne State University. She directs the Healthy Brain Aging Laboratory and the Detroit Aging Brain Study, a 22-year longitudinal investigation into age-related brain structure and function in Metro Detroit. Her research focuses on MRI biomarkers of cognitive decline, vascular/metabolic risk factors (e.g., hypertension), and protective lifestyle behaviors like aerobic exercise.

Key methods include structural MRI, neuropsychological testing, and cardiovascular health assessments. Collaborators include Naftali Raz, Jeff Stanley, Jeske Damoiseaux, Noa Ofen, and Nora Fritz. She teaches graduate courses in multivariate analysis, neuropsychiatric disorders, and neuroimaging. Recent work highlights iron accumulation in the brain as a critical biomarker for Alzheimer’s risk, hippocampal subfield segmentation challenges, and mobility-cognitive interactions in multiple sclerosis.