Dr. Ana Marija Franceschi, MD

Professionally, I am highly motivated and dedicated to making significant contributions to advancing Neuroradiology research and practice. Specifically, I have developed a special focus on neurological molecular imaging, with an emphasis on the advancement of brain PET/MRI and hybrid imaging techniques in dementia and neurodegenerative disease. I was awarded the Foundation of the ASNR 2021 Boerger Research Fund for Alzheimer s Disease and Neurocognitive Disorders for the project [18F] PI-2620 in Primary Progressive Aphasia (Franceschi AM, PI), with the goal of characterizing biodistribution of abnormal tau accumulation in PPA subtypes using the novel second generation tracer PI-2620 and correlating these findings with clinical disease severity and neurodegeneration. I am also PI for the project Utility of [18F] PI-2620 as Universal Biomarker for the A/T/N Classification of Dementia and Neurodegenerative Disease , which aims to establish the efficacy of PI-2620 as a single, universal …biomarker for the A/T/N classification scheme of dementia, with the eventual goal of its use in descriptive classification, patient selection and target engagement assessment in disease-modifying clinical treatment trials. I contribute as a co-Investigator on the study A Life Course Approach to Integrating Trauma and Cognitive Aging: A Cohort of 9/11 Responders, which is part of the World Trade Center (WTC) responders aging program (NIH R01 AG049953; Clouston, PI). This research focuses on PTSD and WTC exposures as risk factors for cognitive dysfunction and decline in a prospective cohort of responders, alongside changes in -amyloid, tau deposition, and neurodegeneration. These varied experiences have allowed me to understand the characterization of non-Alzheimer s tauopathies, and have improved my analytical expertise to apply this knowledge to studying Alzheimer s disease and related neurocognitive disorders. In addition to multiple scientific publications on these topics, I am lead editor of the textbook Hybrid PET/MR Neuroimaging: A Comprehensive Approach (Springer Nature, 2022).