C. Elizabeth Shaaban

PhD, MS, MPH
  • Assistant Professor
  • Associate Director, Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement Core, University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
  • Faculty in Epidemiology

Contributions to Public Health

  • Population neuroscience and public health: VCID and ADRD I have made important contributions to the literature to make neuroimaging and dementia research more widely applicable to the general population of older adults, something critical for public health. My work has covered common comorbidities of aging, pathophysiology, vascular and cardiometabolic risk factors, and joint effects of risk factors. I have also developed materials to introduce population neuroscience skills such as data harmonization to the next generation of researchers.

  1. Shaaban CE. Individuals with dementia and populations with dementia. In Press at Cerebral Circulation - Cognition and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cccb.2024.100221
  2. Jorgensen DR,^ Shaaban CE,^ Wiley CA, Gianaros PJ, Mettenburg J and Rosano C. A population neuroscience approach to the study of cerebral small vessel disease in mid- and late-life: an Invited Review. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2018;314(6):H1117-H36. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpheart.00535.2017 PMCID: PMC6032084 ^Co-first authors.
  3. Shaaban CE, Tudorascu DL, Glymour MM, Cohen AD, Thurston RC, Snyder HM, Hohman TJ, Mukherjee S, Yu L, Snitz BE. A Guide for Researchers Seeking Training in Retrospective Data Harmonization for Population Neuroscience Studies of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias. Frontiers in Neuroimaging. PMC10353763 https://doi.org/10.3389/fnimg.2022.978350
  4. Alber J, Alladi S, Andjelkovic M, Bae H, Barton D, Beckett L, Bell J, Berman S, Biessels GJ, Black S, Bos I, Bowman G, Brickman A, Callahan GL, Cambronero F, Corriveau R, De Leeuw F, Fossati S, Gottesman R, Gustafson D, Hachinski V, Hayden K, Helman A, Hughes TM, Isaacs JD, Jefferson A, Johnson S, Kapasi A, Kern S, Kwon JC, Kukolja J, Lee A, Leyenaar J, Lockhart SN, Moncaster J, Murray A, Osborn K, Plakiotis C, Podell M, Power M, Price B, Rodill L, Rhodius-Meester H, Rondeau J, Rosen A, Rosene DL, Schneider JA, Scholtzova H, Shaaban CE, Sheinerman K, Silva N, Swardfager W, Troen AM, van Veluw S, Vemuri P, Wallin A, Wellington C, Wilcock DM, Xie S, Hainsworth AH. White matter hyperintensities in vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID): Knowledge gaps and opportunities. Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2019;5:107-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trci.2019.02.001 PMCID: PMC6461571.
  • Brain health equity: recruitment and representation science and social determinants of ADRD - This area of my work relates to practice carried out in my role as the Associate Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement Core Director of the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), as well as my research. I have carried out work assessing the association of the COVID pandemic with enrollment at the US ADRCs as well as work assessing social determinants of ADRD.
  1. Shaaban CE, Lin HS, Terry M, Ren D, Lingler JH. COVID-19 pandemic's relationship with enrollment at US Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers. Alzheimers Dement. 2024 Feb 1. doi: 10.1002/alz.13706. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38298163. Paper and Presentation at Fall 2022 National ADRCs network meeting.
  2. Mukundan A*, Rosso AL, Huppert T, Laymon CM, Lopresti BJ, Reese AC, Roush RE, Snitz BE, Becker JT, Cohen AD, Shaaban CE (2023), Race, Purpose and Meaning of Life, and Markers of Brain Health for Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer's Dement., 19: e075116. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.075116  . Poster presentation at AAIC July 2023. *=mentee.
  3. Royse SK*, Snitz BE, Hengenius JB, Huppert TJ, Roush RE, Ehrenkranz RE, Wilson JD, Betolet M, Reese AC, Cisneros G, Potopenko K, Becker JT, Cohen AD^, Shaaban CE^. Unhealthy white matter connectivity in African American and non-Hispanic White older adults. 2024;20(3):1483-96. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.13494 PMCID: PMC10947965; *=mentee; ^=co-senior authors.
  • Novel neuroimaging approaches in population neuroscience - I have led efforts to develop and highlight novel neuroimaging methods and their applications in population neuroscience studies of ADRD. This includes methods to assess the tortuosity of deep medullary veins and a region-to-region spatially localized method of measuring white matter hyperintensities known as unhealthy white matter connectivity.
  1. Shaaban, CE, Aizenstein, HJ, Jorgensen, DR, MacCloud, RL, Meckes, NA, Erickson, KI, Glynn, NW, Mettenburg, J, Guralnik, J, Newman, AB, Ibrahim, T S, Laurienti, PJ, Vallejo, AN, Rosano, C. In Vivo Imaging of Venous Side Cerebral Small-Vessel Disease in Older Adults: An MRI Method at 7T. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2017. https://doi.org/10.3174/ajnr.A5327 PMCID: PMC5632121.
  2. Shaaban CE, Aizenstein HJ, Jorgensen DR, MacCloud RL, Meckes NA, Erickson KI, Glynn NW, Mettenburg J, Guralnik J, Newman AB, Ibrahim TS, Laurienti PJ, Vallejo AN, Rosano C. Physical activity and cerebral small vein integrity in older adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019. 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001952 PMCID: PMC6629486.
  3. Royse SK*, Snitz BE, Hengenius JB, Huppert TJ, Roush RE, Ehrenkranz RE, Wilson JD, Betolet M, Reese AC, Cisneros G, Potopenko K, Becker JT, Cohen AD^, Shaaban CE^. Unhealthy white matter connectivity in African American and non-Hispanic White older adults. 2024;20(3):1483-96. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.13494 PMCID: PMC10947965; *=mentee; ^=co-senior authors.
  4. Silva NCBS, Bracko O, Nelson AR, Oliveira FF, Robison LS, Shaaban CE, Hainsworth A, Price BR. Vascular cognitive impairment and dementia: An early career researcher perspective. Writing Group through the Vascular Cognitive Disorders Professional Interest Area of ISTAART. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Disease Monitoring. 2022; 14(1):e12310. https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.12310. eCollection 2022. PMC9043906. AWARD: Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Disease Monitoring Journal’s Top 10% Most Downloaded Articles, 2022.
  • Brain health equity: gender/sex, VCID, and ADRD - I have made important contributions to the literature on gender/sex differences in ADRD. This work has included evaluation of sex-specific dementia risk factors such as hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and placental small vessel disease, sex differences in AD pathology, and a culturally and globally informed perspective on gender/sex differences, gaps in knowledge, and recommendations for future research including in low- and middle-income countries.
  1. Shaaban CE, Rosano C, Cohen AD, Huppert T, Butters MA, Hengenius J, Parks WT, Catov JM. Cognition and Cerebrovascular Reactivity in Midlife Women With History of Preeclampsia and Placental Evidence of Maternal Vascular Malperfusion. Front Aging Neurosci. 2021 May 4;13:637574. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2021.637574 PMCID: PMC8129174.
  2. Schliep KC, Shaaban CE, Meeks H, Fraser A, Smith KR, Majersik JJ, et al. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and subsequent risk of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands) (2023) 15(2):e12443. Epub 2023/05/24. https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.12443 PMCID: 10201212
  3. Shaaban CE, Snitz BE, Tudorascu DL, Lopresti BJ, Royse SK, Yu Z, Aizenstein HJ, Klunk WE, Cohen AD. (2021). Sex and cerebral small vessel disease-specific longitudinal trajectories of amyloid, tau, and neurodegeneration. Alzheimer's Dement., 17: e056291. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.056291
  4. Mielke MM, Aggarwal NT, Vila-Castelar C, Agarwal P, Arenaza-Urquijo EM, Brett B, Brugulat-Serrat A, DuBose LE, Eikelboom WS, Flatt J, Foldi NS, Franzen S, Gilsanz P, Li W, McManus AJ, van Lent DM, Milani SA, Shaaban CE, Stites SD, Sundermann E, Suryadevara V, Trani JF, Turner AD, Vonk JMJ, Quiroz YT, Babulal GM; Diversity and Disparity Professional Interest Area Sex and Gender Special Interest Group. Consideration of sex and gender in Alzheimer's disease and related disorders from a global perspective. Alzheimers Dement. 2022 Dec;18(12):2707-2724. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12662 PMCID: PMC9547039. AWARD: International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment Diversity and Disparities PIA 2023 Publication of the Year Award. AWARD: Alzheimer’s and Dementia Journal’s Top 10% Most Downloaded Articles, 2022.
  • Intersectionality in dementia - I have made contributions to research considering intersectionality in dementia considering race, ethnicity, gender/sex, life course financial mobility, and other factors. This work considers overlapping identities and systems of oppression stemming from sociocultural, political, environmental, and economic factors known as syndemic risk factors and their associations with dementia biomarkers, cognition, and risk and resilience to dementia.
  1. Shaaban CE, Reese AC, Royse SK, Snitz BE, Karikari TK, Hengenius JB, Huppert TJ, Roush RE, Cisneros G, Potopenko K, Becker JT, Cohen AD. Intersections of sex and racialization on ATV(N) biomarkers. AAIC 2024.
  2. Belloy M & Shaaban CE. Featured Poster Session: Intersectionality of sex, gender, ancestry, race, and ethnicity in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. AAIC 2024.
  3. Shaaban CE, Trani JF*, Babulal G*, for the Diversity and Disparities Professional Interest Area Sex and Gender Special Interest Group. *Co-Senior Authors, contributed equally. Integrating population neuroscience and syndemic frameworks to better understand sex and gender-differences cognitive disorders in aging globally. Alzheimer's Dement., 19: e074149. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.074149 . Poster presentation at AAIC July 2023.
  4. Kobayashi LC, Peterson R, Avila-Rieger J, Amofa-Ho PA, Vila-Castelar C, Meza E, Shaaban CE, Gilsanz P, Mayeda ER. Life course financial mobility and later-life memory by gender and race/ethnicity: an intersectional analysis of a multi-ethnic cohort study. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.078475 Presentation at AAIC July 2023.

My bibliography

Google scholar

Education
2021 Postdoctoral Fellowship University of Pittsburgh Population Neuroscience of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders
2021 MS University of Pittsburgh Neuroscience
2018 PhD University of Pittsburgh Epidemiology
2010 MPH University of Pittsburgh Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
2001 BS University of Pittsburgh Psychology
Teaching
  1. Course Director
    • EPIDEM 2019, Introduction to Multimodal Neuroimaging and Applications in Population Neuroscience.
    • Topics at Noon: Pitt Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Continuing Medical Education Seminar Series
  2. Guest Lecturer
    • Lecture: Neurocognitive Disorders. EPIDEM 2170: Chronic Disease Epidemiology (Drs. Iva Miljkovic & Emma Barinas-Mitchell, Course Instructors)
    • Lecture: Social media to share your science, and other benefits. NUR 3291: Responsibilities and Activities of Scientists 1 (Dr. Jennifer Lingler, Course Instructors)
    • Lecture: Neuroimaging. EPIDEM 2017: Population Neuroscience Seminar (Dr. Andrea Rosso, Course Instructor)
    • Lecture: Gender/sex in cognitive impairment and dementia. EPIDEM 2709: Epidemiology of Women’s Health (Dr. Janet Catov, Course Instructor)
Research Grants

Funding

Current

2023-2028 | Allegheny County Health Department | Role: Partner/Consultant on behalf of the ADRC on the Allegheny BOLD Coalition | PI: Weeden | CDC grant NU58DP007516

2023-2025 | University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center | Role: Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement (ORE) Core Associate Director | PI: Lopez | P30AG066468 NIA

2022-2027 | The role of astrogliosis in aging and the pathological and clinical progression of Alzheimer's Disease | Role: Co-I | mPI: Cohen / Aizenstein / Ikonomovic / Villemagne | P01AG025204 NIA

2022-2027 | Population neuroscience of sex differences in the Alzheimer's Disease biomarker cascade: the role of cerebral small vessel disease | Role: PI | NIA K01AG071849

2022-2027 | Preeclampsia and the brain: small vessel disease and cognitive function in early midlife | Role: Co-I | NIA R01AG072646 | mPI: Catov / Rosano

Previous

2022-2033 | Neighborhood environment and risk of cognitive impairment in older adults across Southwestern Pennsylvania | Role: Co-I | mPI: Rosso / Weinstein | Steven Manners Faculty Development Award | University of Pittsburgh Center for Social and Urban Research

Population Neuroscience of Aging & Alzheimer's Disease T32 | Role: Postdoctoral Fellow |
MPI: Rosano / Ganguli| NIA T32 AG055381

Momentum Funds Teaming Grant | Role: Co-I | PI: Boyce | Internal University of Pittsburgh Funding

F31 Predoctoral Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award | Role: PI| NIA F31AG054084

University of Pittsburgh Pepper Center Pilot Grant | Role: Lead Project Scientist |
MPI: Rosano / de Vallejo

Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition Behavioral Brain T32 | Role: Predoctoral Fellow | MPI: Fiez, Psychology / Holt, Psychology @ Carnegie Mellon University | NIGMS T32GM081760

Selected Publications

Note: I have publications and presentations under both Shaaban CE and Sarles CE.

MyNCBI bibliography

Department/Affiliation