Michael Donohue, PhD

Professor of Neurology

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Overview

Michael Donohue, PhD is an Associate Professor of Neurology, Associate Director of Biostatistics at the Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute (ATRI), and Co-Lead of the Biostatistics Unit of the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial Consortium (ACTC).

Since obtaining his PhD in Mathematics in 2005, Dr. Donohue has worked on Alzheimer’s clinical trials and observational studies, such as the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). His primary area of interest is applying novel statistical methods to data from ADNI to better understand the multivariate course of markers of Alzheimer’s progression, and design innovative clinical trials to prevent or slow the progression of disease. He has studied the risk of cognitive decline associated with elevated brain amyloid in cognitively normal individuals; and helped design the first intervention in asymptomatic Alzheimer’s, the Anti-Amyloid Treatment for Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s (the A4 Study; in collaboration with Eli Lilly), and its primary outcome measure, the Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite. He has been awarded grants to develop innovative statistical approaches for Alzheimer’s from the National Institute on Aging; the Alzheimer’s Association, Michael J. Fox Foundation, and W. Garfield Weston Foundation; and the Clinical and Translation Research Institute of University of California, San Diego

Education and Training

  • University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA — PhD — 05/2005 — Mathematics

Research Funding

  • Building predictive algorithms to identify resilience and resistance to Alzheimer's disease
    NIH · R01AG079142 · Jun 1, 2023 – Feb 29, 2028 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  • Estimating Long-Term Disease Trajectories from Short-Term Data
    NIH · R01AG049750 · Feb 1, 2016 – Jan 31, 2021 · Role: Principal Investigator

Publications

  • Prognostic Value of Blood-Based P-Tau217 Levels for Progression to Cognitive Impairment. JAMA. 2026 09 15; 336(11):950-959.. View in PubMed
  • More efficient screening for preclinical Alzheimer’s clinical trials using mixture of experts. Alzheimers Dement. 2026 Sep; 22(9):e71681.. View in PubMed
  • Research satisfaction among participants in a preclinical Alzheimer’s disease trial. Alzheimers Dement. 2026 Sep; 22(9):e71852.. View in PubMed
  • Stages of objective memory impairment (SOMI) as a predictor of clinical progression in the A4 study. J Prev Alzheimers Dis. 2026 Oct; 13(8):100641.. View in PubMed
  • Sex specificity of resistance to caTAUstrophe. Alzheimers Dement. 2026 Aug; 22(8):e71716.. View in PubMed
  • Relationships between longitudinal retinal amyloid imaging and amyloid PET in the A4 Trial. Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2026 Jul-Sep; 18(3):e70422.. View in PubMed
  • Exploring automated plasma phospho-tau217 assays for the diagnosis of Down syndrome-related Alzheimer’s disease. Commun Med (Lond). 2026 Jun 02.. View in PubMed
  • Continuous Erector Spinae Plane Blocks to Treat Pain after Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy: A Randomized, Triple-masked, Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial. Anesthesiology. 2026 Sep 01; 145(3):569-579.. View in PubMed
  • Divergent patterns of cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease: Implications for secondary prevention trials. Alzheimers Dement. 2026 Apr; 22(4):e71366.. View in PubMed
  • Sex Differences in P-Tau217, Tau Aggregation, and Cognitive Decline. JAMA Neurol. 2026 Apr 01; 83(4):369-381.. View in PubMed