Paul Crane, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine and Division Head, General Internal Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine
Adjunct Professor, Health Services and Population Health, University of Washington
Director, Center for Psychometric Analyses of Aging and Neurodegeneration (CPAAN)
Co-PI, Adult Changes in Thought study
Research Interests: I study aging brains in aging bodies. I have specific expertise in psychometrics applied to cognitive tests, so I have links to fields like educational testing and neuropsychology. I lead CPAAN, which currently serves as the engine for cognition for the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project Phenotype Harmonization Consortium (ADSP=PHC), a prominent national project to harmonize many phenotypes related to Alzheimer's disease across dozens of studies from the US and around the world.
I also serve as MPI of Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study. I lead a Project on cognitively-defined Alzheimer's disease subgroups, a specific strategy we hope will lead to more personalized medicine approaches to Alzheimer's dementia. ACT enrolls participants from Kaiser Permanente Washington, and we have a lot of research leveraging extensive data from the delivery system and combining those data with data collected by the ACT study itself (dementia and Alzheimer's diagnoses, cognitive testing, physical activity, and many others). We follow participants to autopsy and I work with terrific colleagues with neuropathology and omics expertise. I also work with ophthalmologists on Eye-ACT, and with hearing experts with a new ACT Hearing grant we are trying to launch.
Opportunities for fellows: Let's talk! I have access to a vast array of data and have leveraged this access for a lot of different lines of research.
Mentoring philosophy: I love to mentor. It is a distinct pleasure to be able to help the early career stages of talented people. I have learned a thing or two about a thing or two and am happy (eager) to share what I have learned and to work with each mentee to devise strategies for moving forward. I try to meet the mentee where they are. I am a critical scientist and strive to put forth my very best work for each paper and grant proposal, while maintaining a sense of humor and a fun work environment.