Professor of Neurology
Phone: (724) 935-1500
e-mail: lopezol@upmc.edu

Specialized Areas of Interest

Alzheimer’s disease research.

Biography

Oscar L. Lopez, MD, continues to be actively involved in research. He is the Principal investigator of the NIH- funded grant entitled “Predictors of Alzheimer’s disease in mild cognitive impairment” and is co-investigator in other 7 NIH-funded projects. He is also the consultant for two training grants (K01 and K23). He is conducting a large-scale study in the clinical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment. This study has produced several manuscripts in the past few years. Dr Lopez has published the first integrative overview and outcomes of the clinical diagnosis of Lewy Body Dementia, which directly addressed the controversy regarding whether this neuropathological entity can be identified antemortem, especially when it coexists with Alzheimer’s disease.

This year, Dr Lopez published the first study that linked the presence of Lewy bodies in the amygdala to the development of major depression in Alzheimer’s disease patients. His recent findings are relevant to understanding the symptom profile in the Lewy Body variant of Alzheimer’s disease, and for the treatment of depression in these patients.

In addition to his participation in the NIH Adult Psychopathology and Disorders of Aging Study Section, Dr. Lopez has been an ad hoc reviewer for Agency of Evaluation of Technology and Medical Research (Agéncia d=Evaluació de Tecnologia i Recerca Mèdiques), published in Barcelona. In addition, he was appointed Associate Editor of Neuropsychology Review, the official publication of the National Academy of Neuropsychology. Dr Lopez has been member of the Overview and Comprehensive Examination Committee for the Ph.D. Degree of Dr. Aiman El-Saed. Graduate School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh.

In the 2006-2007 academic year, Dr. Lopez will organize the next “Pittsburgh-Barcelona Symposium on Dementia.” This is an international meeting held every other year in Barcelona. The audience is mainly composed of European neurologists, psychiatrists and geriatricians. He will also resubmit two grants and participate in the Overview and Comprehensive Examination Committee for the Ph.D. degree of Dr. Javier Martin-Sanchez. Department of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.

Dr. Lopez's publications can be reviewed through the National Library of Medicine's publication database.

Editorial Service

• Editorial:

Neuropsychology Review (Associate Editor)

• Ad Hoc Reviewer:

Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders
American Journal of Cardiology
Annals of Neurology
Archives of Neurology
Archives of General Psychiatry
Behavioral and Brain Function
Brain European Journal of Neurology
Cortex
International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
Neurology
Neuropsychologia
Neuropsychology
The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences

• Ad Hoc Grant Reviewer:

Alzheimer Association