Friday, February 28, 2025
UNTHSC's Dr. Sarah Ross, an associate professor at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine and HSC Health’s Center for Older Adults
The duo of Sarah Ross, DO, MS, CMD, and Mohammad Housini, MS, a dual-degree student at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, was chosen to present at the prestigious Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium (TARCC). The Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium is a collaboration between 11 of the state’s leading medical research institutions, working to improve early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and each year during their annual conference two nominees are invited from each institution to participate in giving “Data Blitz Sessions from TARCC Scientists.”
Ross, an associate professor at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine and HSC Health’s Center for Older Adults and Housini, who is a student at TCOM while also pursuing his PhD with the College of Biomedical Translation Sciences in Pharmacology and Neuroscience, presented separately to the conference.
Ross gave a presentation on “Brain Health Coaching to Address Risk Factors for Dementia,” while Housini, who was nominated for the presentation by Dr. Robert Barber, a professor of family medicine at TCOM and the Genomics Core Director at the Institute for Translational Research, spoke about his work on “Multi-Cohort Association of Alcohol Use Disorder with Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease.”
“TARCC plays a vital role in advancing Alzheimer’s research by bringing together experts from across Texas,” Housini said. “Being selected to present at this prestigious conference was an incredible honor, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the conversation on improving care and outcomes for those affected by Alzheimer’s or dementia.”
UNTHSC's Mohammad Housini, a student at TCOM while also pursuing his PhD with the College of Biomedical Translation Sciences in Pharmacology and Neuroscience
The key finding of the work Housini presented was the association of alcohol abuse history among participants from three large Alzheimer’s disease-focused cohorts (TARCC, ADNI, HABS-HD) with Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease. After controlling for Age, Sex,and Race/Ethnicity, the data shows statistically significant elevated disease risk for the groups with positive alcohol misuse history.
More research is underway to understand the association between alcohol abuse and cognitive impairment with a UNTHSC connection. Gita Pathak, PhD, who graduated from CBTS in 2019, in New York is collaborating with the research team to expand the scope of this work to include blood biomarker analysis.
Pathak, who serves as a senior mentor to Housini on this project, is an assistant professor at the Institute of Genomic Health and Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Pathak graduated from her Ph.D. training under Dr. Nicole Phillips at UNTHSC.
The TARCC cohort is comprised of individuals across Texas – part of the multi-site collaborative effort of participating medical schools. Housini is finishing up his Ph.D. portion of his studies and will return to TCOM in July to begin rotations for the completion of his medical training with his goal of finishing his dual degree in 2027.
From HSC Newsroom - Community by Steven Bartolotta