Associate Professor
Department of Medicine
Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology
Dr. Barbara Bendlin is a faculty member in the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology within the Department of Medicine. She is a member of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute’s Executive Committee and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Executive Committee, leads the Research Education Component in the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and directs the UW-Madison Neuroscience and Public Policy Program. Dr. Bendlin is a recipient of a 2019 Distinguished Honors Faculty Award and is an associate editor of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Research Interests:
Dr. Bendlin’s federally funded research program is centered on factors that may impact trajectories of brain aging, including pre-diabetes, sleep, exercise, diet, gut microbiome, and socioeconomic disadvantage. Her studies use magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography combined with fluid biomarker analysis to identify brain changes that occur in Alzheimer’s disease, particularly at the earliest stages. In addition to studying the hallmark plaque and tangle pathology of Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Bendlin is leading studies to determine how other features of the disease process, including loss of synapses and degeneration of myelinated axons, contribute to the development of dementia.