Keenan Walker, Ph.D.

Senior Investigator

Multimodal Imaging of Neurodegenerative Disease Section (MINDS)

NIA

View Site

251 Bayview Boulevard
Room 04B316
Baltimore, MD 21224

667-205-2657

keenan.walker@nih.gov

Research Topics

Dr. Walker's research program investigates how immune function contributes to Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline in later life. His lab integrates proteomic, genetic, and epigenetic analyses with multimodal neuroimaging to explore the connections between peripheral immune activity, neuroinflammation, and neurodegeneration. Leveraging data from large population-based cohort studies, Dr. Walker's team aims to uncover novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets to help predict, prevent, and treat Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Biography

Dr. Keenan Walker is a Senior Investigator at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Intramural Research Program, and he is Chief of the Multimodal Imaging of Neurodegenerative Disease Section (MINDS). He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from St. John's University and completed his pre-doctoral internship in clinical neuropsychology at the University of California San Diego / VA San Diego Healthcare System before beginning an NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Shortly thereafter he began his career as a Tenure-Track Investigator at NIA. Dr. Walker currently runs a research program focused on identifying biomarkers and therapeutic targets for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Selected Publications

  1. Walker KA, An Y, Moghekar A, Moaddel R, Duggan MR, Peng Z, Tian Q, Pilling LC, Drouin SM, Espeland MA, Rapp SR, Hayden KM, Shadyab AH, Casanova R, Thambisetty M, Rapp PR, Kapogiannis D, Ferrucci L, Resnick SM. Proteomic analysis of APOEε4 carriers implicates lipid metabolism, complement and lymphocyte signaling in cognitive resilience. Mol Neurodegener. 2024;19(1):81.
  2. Blew CO, Duggan MR, Tsitsipatis D, Gomez GT, Rodriguez-Hernandez Z, Pilling LC, Chen J, Jacobsen E, Dark HE, Lu Y, Drouin SM, Joynes CM, Yao M, Bilgel M, Moghekar A, Tian Q, Candia J, Kaileh M, Gupta A, Mazan-Mamczarz K, Gorospe M, Lyashkov A, Lukyanenko Y, Kivimaki M, Frank P, Jennings LL, Gudmundsdottir V, Gudnason V, Launer LJ, Kaneko N, Kato S, Furuichi M, Shibayama M, Katsuno M, Hiraga K, Nishita Y, Otsuka R, Pike JR, Rooney MR, Schlosser P, Cui Y, Erus G, Davatzikos C, Gottesman RF, Waga I, Palta P, Ballantyne C, Griswold M, Liu Z, Ferrucci L, Herman AB, Walker KA. Plasma GDF15 affects long-term dementia risk and alters neuroimmune signaling. Sci Adv. 2026;12(26):eaec7614.
  3. Duggan MR, Peng Z, Sipilä PN, Lindbohm JV, Chen J, Lu Y, Davatzikos C, Erus G, Hohman TJ, Andrews SJ, Candia J, Tanaka T, Joynes CM, Alvarado CX, Nalls MA, Cordon J, Daya GN, An Y, Lewis A, Moghekar A, Palta P, Coresh J, Ferrucci L, Kivimäki M, Walker KA. Proteomics identifies potential immunological drivers of postinfection brain atrophy and cognitive decline. Nat Aging. 2024;4(9):1263-1278.
  4. Walker KA, Chen J, Shi L, Yang Y, Fornage M, Zhou L, Schlosser P, Surapaneni A, Grams ME, Duggan MR, Peng Z, Gomez GT, Tin A, Hoogeveen RC, Sullivan KJ, Ganz P, Lindbohm JV, Kivimaki M, Nevado-Holgado AJ, Buckley N, Gottesman RF, Mosley TH, Boerwinkle E, Ballantyne CM, Coresh J. Proteomics analysis of plasma from middle-aged adults identifies protein markers of dementia risk in later life. Sci Transl Med. 2023;15(705):eadf5681.
  5. Walker KA, Blew C, Duggan MR, Joynes C, Gomez GT, Drouin S, Cordon J, Chen J, Zhang J, File B, Nanasi T, Lehallier B, Oh H, Surapaneni A, Grams ME, Palta P, Sullivan KJ, Pichet Binette A, Wu L, Zhu J, Leonard H, Singleton AB, Fornage M, Gottesman RF, Mosley TH, Chatterjee N, Boerwinkle E, Ferrucci L, Coresh J, Schlosser P. Alzheimer's disease proteome-wide association study implicates adaptive immunity and identifies risk genes LILRB1 and SIRPA. Sci Transl Med. 2026;18(856):eadx4852.

Related Scientific Focus Areas

This page was last updated on Thursday, August 20, 2026