Amy Borenstein, Ph.D.

Professor, Epidemiology

Contact Information: Office: CPH 2109, Mailpoint: MDC 56 aborenst@health.usf.edu Phone: (813)-974-6670 Fax: (813)-974-4719 Curriculum Vitae:	Specialization:
Degrees: B.A. Human Biology, Pitzer 1978 M.P.H. Epidemiology, University of Michigan 1980 Ph.D. Epidemiology, University of Washington 1988 Other Information: Biographical Sketch Research and Support	Courses Taught: Epidemiology 6000 Practical Issues in Epidemiology Epidemiology of Neurologic Diseases Neuroepidemiology Epidemiology of Aging

Amy Borenstein is Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of South Florida's College of Public Health. She is the author of four chapters in texts on Dementia and Neuroepidemiology and over 50 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts. She is recognized both nationally and internationally as one of the pioneers in the research of the causes of Alzheimer's disease, and has been invited to participate in international collaborative research and give scientific talks at the leading meetings on the epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease around the world.

Dr. Borenstein has been investigating the genetic and environmental interactions in the causation of dementia and Alzheimer's disease since conducting her dissertation work at the University of Washington in Seattle in the mid 1980's. Dr. Borenstein was awarded an NIH grant to study the effects of environmental aluminum exposure in Alzheimer's six months following completion of her Ph.D. In 1991, Dr. Borenstein and her research team were awarded a large NIH grant to study dementia and Alzheimer's disease in the Japanese American community in Seattle, WA. This study followed 2,000 individuals aged 65 and over until 2002 for memory and aging outcomes and is currently comparing these results with standardized studies of Japanese populations on the island of Oahu, Hawaii and in Hiroshima, Japan. The results of these studies will enable the distinction of risk factors related to genetics and those that are influenced by the environment. She also is the epidemiologist for a large program project funded by the National Institute on Aging to study dementia in the native Chamorro people on Guam. This study is based at the University of California at San Diego's Department of Neurosciences.

Currently, Dr. Borenstein is interested in factors that may modify the clinical expression of Alzheimer's, given recent data from her work and others showing that education, income, intellectual ability in childhood and vascular risk factors can influence the age at onset of the disease. She is planning a large, community-based study that will seek to examine whether the occurrence of new disease can be reduced by preventive interventions. In addition, Dr. Borenstein is the Principal Investigator of a population-based study of older African Americans in the Tampa area. Cross-cultural comparisons are being made with a methodologically standardized study of Caucasians living in Charlotte County, on which she is co-Principal Investigator.

Dr. Borenstein has served as consultant to the Honolulu Heart Program, the World Health Organization and other international projects, including a study of Arabs in Israel. She has served on an ad-hoc basis as a member of NIH study sections and as a member of the Work Group on Women and Alzheimer's Disease (Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute, Alzheimer's Association and National Institute on Aging). She regularly reviews manuscripts for JAMA, American Journal of Public Health and was a peer reviewer for the Surgeon General's Report on Women and Smoking, published Spring 2001.

Dr. Borenstein received her doctorate from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1988 and her M.P.H. from the University of Michigan in 1980. In 1988, she began a position with Battelle Memorial Institute, a non-profit research institute, which she left as Senior Research Scientist in 1996 to join the faculty at the University of South Florida. She is a member of USF's Faculty Senate and a past member of USF's Research Council and serves as member and chair on numerous committees at the college and departmental level.

Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics • USF College of Public Health • 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MDC 56 • Tampa, FL 33612
phone 813-974-4860 • fax (813) 974-4719 • www.hsc.usf.edu/publichealth/epibio