Dr. Owen Carmichael has been awarded the James W. and Neil Ann Parks Professorship for Dementia Research, Prevention and Treatment. James and Neil Ann Parks are longtime supporters of Pennington Biomedical. They intend for this professorship to be part of their legacy in understanding, preventing and treating dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia and other diseases of the brain, and believe that through this work, new diagnostics and treatments will be developed until a cure is found. Endowed professorships are among the highest academic honors bestowed upon a faculty member and recognize excellence in research, scholarship and leadership.

A specific pattern of brain metabolism visualized with PET imaging can predict which patients are most likely to benefit from Alzheimer's disease therapy. In a retrospective study of patients who received Alzheimer's treatments, those with the identified pattern experienced stabilized cognitive performance, while patients with other patterns had significant cognitive decline. This study was presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) 2026 Annual Meeting, where it received top recognition as the Abstract of the Year.

Researchers at Gladstone Institutes have devised a way to track the exact routes that debris uses when exiting the brain. Their approach, described in Cell, has revealed new details about how the brain clears waste, including how bordering immune cells interact with waste products and how Alzheimer’s disease disrupts this carefully orchestrated system.