Aimee Kao, MD, PhD, is a professor of neurology at UC San Francisco in the Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center and is a John Douglas French Foundation Endowed Professor. She is a leader in neurodegenerative disease research and patient care, with expertise in diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Lewy body disease, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Dr. Kao serves as the program director of the UCSF Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), which is sponsored jointly by the National Institutes of Health, the UCSF School of Medicine, and UCSF graduate programs. In this role, she mentors future physician-scientists who will bridge the gap between clinical care and research, advancing medical science.
Dr. Kao also directs multiple research initiatives aimed at understanding neurodegenerative disorders. She leads the National Institutes of Health-supported Tau Center Without Walls, a collaborative effort to study tau protein abnormalities that drive conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and other tauopathies. Additionally, she oversees the UCSF Tau Consortium Human Fibroblast Bank, which provides critical resources for studying the cellular mechanisms underlying these diseases.
Dedicated to improving the lives of patients, Dr. Kao combines cutting-edge research with compassionate clinical care. She investigates how aging, stress, and changes in pH disrupt protein homeostasis and contribute to sporadic and familial neurodegenerative conditions. Her research integrates basic science with translational approaches to uncover novel pathways and therapeutic targets that can improve patient outcomes.
Recognized for her contributions to the field, Dr. Kao has received numerous honors, including the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation Distinguished Investigator Award in Neurodegenerative Diseases, the Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, and the American Academy of Neurology’s Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award.