Peter R. Rapp, Ph.D.

Models of Neurocognitive Aging: Age-related declines in cognitive function can compromise quality of life and are among the most concerning consequences of growing older. Research in the Neurocognitive Aging Section (NAS) seeks to understand why cognitive aging differs so substantially across individuals. Using rodent and non-human primate models, the group investigates molecular, neuroanatomical, and neural systems mechanisms that contribute to both cognitive decline and preserved function in aging.

NAS takes a multilevel approach, examining molecular and synaptic mechanisms; neural circuit function, with particular emphasis on excitatory/inhibitory balance; interactions among memory systems; neural network dynamics; and potential interventions to promote healthy cognitive aging.

In recent years, substantial effort has focused on developing an open data resource for research on neurocognitive reserve and resilience: Successful Trajectories of Aging: Reserve and Resilience in RatS (STARRRS). Built on the group's well-established rat model of aged unimpaired and impaired cognition, STARRRS parallels many features of the NIA Intramural Research Program's longitudinal studies of cognitive and brain aging in humans. The project is creating an integrated resource of behavioral, imaging, and pathologic data, together with biospecimens, for use by both intramural and extramural scientific communities.

Dr. Rapp received his Ph.D. in Biopsychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1986. Following postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, he joined the faculty of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. From 1997 until joining the NIA in 2008, he was Associate Professor of Neuroscience, and Geriatrics and Adult Development at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. His leadership roles there included Interim Chair of the Fishberg Department of Neuroscience (2006-2008), the Mount Sinai Endowed Chair in Neuroscience, and Co-Director of the Graduate Training Program in Neuroscience.

Dr. Rapp's extramural research on the cognitive and neurobiological consequences of normal aging received continuous NIH funding beginning in 1989. He has served on the editorial boards of several journals, including as Editor-in-Chief of Neurobiology of Aging, and is the author of numerous original research reports, reviews, and book chapters. His research focuses on neural network contributions to age-related cognitive decline, in vivo imaging of neurocognitive aging, and the development of strategies to promote optimally healthy cognitive aging.