Kenneth M. Langa

Dr. Kenneth M. Langa serves as the Cyrus Sturgis Research Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, with additional appointments as Research Professor at the Institute of Gerontology and Survey Research Center (Institute for Social Research), and Professor of Health Management and Policy at the School of Public Health. He is Associate Director of the Institute of Gerontology and an affiliate of the Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging (MiCDA).

Dr. Langa earned his MD and PhD in Public Policy from the University of Chicago as a Pew Fellow in Medicine, Arts, and Social Sciences. His clinical training includes Internship and Residency at the University of Michigan (1997) and Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholarship at the same institution (1999).

His research centers on Alzheimer's disease epidemiology, dementia prevalence trends, and the impact of cardiovascular risks, sepsis, and stroke on cognitive decline in aging populations. He integrates health economics with longitudinal studies to analyze chronic disease costs in older adults, emphasizing global health disparities and cross-national dementia comparisons.

Recent publications reveal strong interdisciplinary trends: cognitive assessment in low-resource settings, ethnic disparities in dementia diagnosis, multimorbidity dynamics, and socioeconomic drivers like food insecurity. His work leverages large-scale datasets (HRS, HCAP) to bridge immunology, nutrition, linguistics, and public policy in aging research.

Scientific recognition includes:

• Election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI)
• Fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

As Co-PI of the NIH-funded Health and Retirement Study (20,000 participants) and Principal Investigator of the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol, Dr. Langa directs major longitudinal research initiatives. His global collaborations span six continents, mentoring early-career researchers through visiting professorships at Cambridge, WHO, UCSF, and institutions in Australia/New Zealand.

He leads the HCAP International Network, coordinating cognitive assessment protocols across diverse populations, and co-directs the Institute of Gerontology's research division, overseeing teams focused on dementia surveillance and health policy translation.