Brickman Lab

Our mission is simple yet ambitious: to use neuroimaging as a tool for discovery, equity, and impact—advancing science that improves lives everywhere.

Research Overview

At the Brickman Lab, we combine advanced neuroimaging technology with innovative research to understand how the brain changes with age and disease. Our work focuses on the role of white matter abnormalities and small vessel cerebrovascular disease in cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). By developing cutting-edge methods to measure white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and other vascular markers, we aim to uncover how these changes interact with biological processes in AD—and ultimately identify new targets for treatment.

Our research spans local, national, and international collaborations, with a strong commitment to community-based, population-representative studies. Using epidemiological approaches, we follow diverse cohorts over time to learn how brain health evolves across the lifespan. Early findings suggest that individuals at the highest risk for Alzheimer’s—those with amnestic mild cognitive impairment—carry the greatest burden of small vessel disease, including WMH, microbleeds, and infarcts.

Most recently, we launched a groundbreaking initiative: bringing the world’s first portable MRI scanner to rural South Africa. This low-field imaging technology will allow us to study neurodegeneration and cerebrovascular disease in low-resource settings, in partnership with the University of Witwatersrand and Harvard University. If successful, this project will transform global brain health research and strengthen scientific collaborations across continents.