Research interests
Background:
Dr. Schupf trained originally as a physiological psychologist, receiving her Ph.D. from New York University in 1970. Her work as a physiological psychologist focused on metabolic factors in obesity and on neuroimmunological mechanisms in lupus cerebritis. She received her M.P.H. from the University of California in 1984 and a Dr.P.H. in Epidemiology from Columbia University in 1995. She was head of the Laboratory of Epidemiology at the NYS Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities from 1990 to 2002.
Dr. Schupf conducts studies of aging and Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome and studies of shared genetic susceptibility to Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease in mothers of adults with Down syndrome. A major focus of her current work is the investigation of genetic and nongenetic factors that influence risk or age at onset of Alzheimer's disease in individuals with Down syndrome. She is currently studying the relation of estrogen receptor polymorphisms to hormone and beta amyloid levels, and their influence on risk for Alzheimer's disease in women with Down syndrome.
