Sarah Kaufman, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist dedicated to advancing our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases, with a particular focus on frontotemporal dementia and tauopathies. She earned her undergraduate degree in molecular and cell biology, with a focus on neuroscience, from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Kaufman then completed her MD and PhD through the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University in St. Louis, where her graduate research, conducted in Dr. Marc Diamond’s laboratory, explored tau aggregation and tau strain biology.
Following the completion of her medical and doctoral training, Dr. Kaufman pursued her neurology residency at UCSF, where she deepened her expertise in neurodegenerative disease mechanisms. After residency, she continued her work as a research fellow at the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center. Her research is jointly mentored by Drs. William Seeley and Martin Kampmann.
Dr. Kaufman’s research focuses on unraveling the molecular mechanisms behind selective neuronal vulnerability and protein aggregation in tauopathies. Tauopathies are marked by the accumulation of aggregated tau protein in neurons that are selectively vulnerable—cells that are preferentially lost early in disease progression. In addition, tau aggregates have been shown to form distinct conformations, or “strains,” which can lead to varied patterns of pathology. Dr. Kaufman aims to investigate how these tau strains contribute to selective neuronal vulnerability and disease progression, with the ultimate goal of identifying therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases.