Epidemiologist Walter Kukull, PhD, a professor of neurology at WashU Medicine, studies Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. His research focuses on the neurodegenerative, vascular and other factors that cause cognitive diseases to arise and progress. He is the founding director and principal investigator from 1999 to 2025 of the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center, which encompasses all 35 National Institute on Aging-funded Alzheimer Disease Research Centers.