Brain Health

Guest Bio: Kristen Willeumier, PhD

Kristen Willeumier, PhD, is a neuroscientist with knowledge on how the brain is affected by health, nutrition and the impact of concussions. Dr. Willeumier served as the Director of Research for the Amen Clinics from 2009-2016 to help advance the research mission of exploring how brain SPECT imaging can transform clinical practice. She has authored or co-authored 52 scientific manuscripts in peer reviewed journals. Areas of published research include traumatic brain injury, posttraumatic stress disorder, attention deficit disorder, autism, biomarkers of suicide, obesity, gender differences in brain function, clinical outcomes, and brain rehabilitation. Together with Dr. Amen and colleagues, she led a clinical research trial investigating the long-term effects of repetitive subconcussive impacts in NFL football players. Subsequent work focused on therapeutic approaches to rehabilitate brain function in athletes. The current emphasis of her work is in investigating biomarkers for treatment of psychiatric disorders using machine learning applications.

Dr. Willeumier conducted her graduate research in the laboratory of Neurophysiology at the University of California, Los Angeles and the laboratory of Neurogenetics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center using live cell imaging to investigate mechanisms of synaptic signaling in Parkinson’s disease. She received MS degrees in physiological science and neurobiology and a PhD degree in neurobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she continued her work in the field of neurodegenerative disease. She was the recipient of the prestigious NIH fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the molecular mechanisms underlying Parkinson’s disease and has presented her work at national and international scientific meetings including the Society for Neuroscience, Gordon Conference and the World Brain Mapping Conference.

Dr. Willeumier is currently a Scientific Advisory Board member of Black Brain Health, LLC, the makers of CogGevity™ Advanced Brain Nutrition, founded by Dr. Keith Black, Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She is also the media spokesperson on behalf of CogGevity™ brand. Dr. Willeumier is a Scientific Advisory Board member of Tate Technology, LLC™, a sports safety and technology think tank and licensing firm.