Steven T. DeKosky, M.D., is professor and chair of the department of neurology and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) at the University of Pittsburgh.
His clinical research includes differential diagnosis, neuroimaging and genetic risks for Alzheimer’s disease and trials of new medications. His basic research centers on structural and neurochemical changes in human brains in normal aging and dementia. He is director of a national multicenter trial in the United States to assess whether Ginkgo biloba can delay onset of dementia in normal elderly adults. In 2004 he was appointed to the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Dr. DeKosky was a member of the national board of directors of the Alzheimer’s Association for eight years, the last four as vice-chair. He was re-elected to the national board in 2003 after one year off. He was the chair of the Alzheimer’s Association Medical and Scientific Advisory Council from 1997 to 2002. He also chairs the Professional Advisory Board of the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and was a founding member of the Lexington-Blue Grass Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. In 2002 he was elected chair of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Panel of Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) the international organization of national Alzheimer’s associations.
Dr. DeKosky has served as chair of the Section on Geriatrics of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). He chaired the recent AAN Practice Parameters Committee for Early Detection, Diagnosis and Management of Dementia. He has been an Examiner in Neurology for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) for over 15 years and served as a member of the ABPN Part I (Written) Examination Committee for 10 years. In 2002 he was elected to the Neurology Council of the ABPN; he is one of the eight neurologists who oversee board certification in the U.S. He has received a Teacher Investigator Development Award from the NINDS, the Presidential Award of the American Neurological Association, and is listed in “The Best Doctors in America.” He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.
Dr. DeKosky's academic career began in 1978 at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, where he was an instructor in the Department of Neurology until 1979. Before joining the UPMC in 1990, Dr. DeKosky was on the faculty of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine for 11 years, serving as Co-Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and Interim Chair of Neurology for two years. From 1992 to 2000 he was Head of the Division of Geriatrics and Neuropsychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, where he holds a joint appointment as Professor of Psychiatry.
After earning a bachelor's degree in psychology from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., Dr. DeKosky attended the University of Florida in Gainesville for graduate studies in psychology and neuroscience. In 1974, Dr. DeKosky graduated from the University of Florida College of Medicine. After an internship in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. DeKosky completed a three-year residency in neurology at the University of Florida in 1978. One year later, Dr. DeKosky completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neurochemistry at the Clinical Neuroscience Research Center in the Department of Neurology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
Top of Page