Laurel C. Schneider

About

Laurel C. Schneider is a Research Professor at Boston University School of Theology, having joined the faculty in 2024. She is trained as a constructive theologian with degrees from Harvard University (MA, MDiv) and Vanderbilt University (PhD). Her research, writing, and teaching focus on Christian queer, feminist, postcolonial, and liberation possibilities. She has a long-standing interest in Indigenous traditions of eastern North America, which began during her undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College and has influenced her work in theology and philosophy. Schneider's theological imagination is grounded in cultural assumptions that shape epistemologies, practices, ontologies, and religious hopes, with an emphasis on liberation. She is currently serving as President-Elect of the American Academy of Religion and is a member of the Executive Committee of the AAR Board of Directors. Her scholarly contributions include numerous articles and chapters on concepts of multiplicity, divinity, sexuality, race, and postcolonial theory, and she is working on poetics and imagining beyond dystopia. In addition to her academic work, she serves on local and district school boards in her hometown of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Pathology
• Biology
• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Internal medicine
• Oncology
• Genetics
• Bioinformatics
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias

  Nature Genetics · 2022 · 2403 citations

  Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted mi…

  DOI

• Donanemab in Early Symptomatic Alzheimer Disease

  JAMA · 2023 · 2382 citations

  Importance: There are limited efficacious treatments for Alzheimer disease. Objective: To assess efficacy and adverse events of donanemab, an antibody designed to clear brain amyloid plaque. Design, Setting, and Participants: Multicenter (277 medical research centers/hospitals in 8 countries), randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 18-month phase 3 trial that enrolled 1736 participants with early symptomatic Alzheimer disease (mild cognitive impairment/mild dementia) with amyloid and low/…

  DOI

• Exceptionally low likelihood of Alzheimer’s dementia in APOE2 homozygotes from a 5,000-person neuropathological study

  Nature Communications · 2020 · 484 citations

  Each additional copy of the apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) allele is associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer's dementia, while the APOE2 allele is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's dementia, it is not yet known whether APOE2 homozygotes have a particularly low risk. We generated Alzheimer's dementia odds ratios and other findings in more than 5,000 clinically characterized and neuropathologically characterized Alzheimer's dementia cases and controls. APOE2/2 was associated with a low Alz…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Anatomically interpretable deep learning of brain age captures domain-specific cognitive impairment

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2023 · 116 citations

  = 359). In individuals with MCI (54% of whom were diagnosed with dementia within 10.9 y from MRI acquisition), BA is significantly better than CA in capturing dementia symptom severity, functional disability, and executive function. Profiles of sex dimorphism and lateralization in brain aging also map onto patterns of neuroanatomic change that reflect cognitive decline. Significant associations between BA and neurocognitive measures suggest that the proposed framework can map, systematically, th…

  DOI

• Plasma phosphorylated-tau181 as a predictive biomarker for Alzheimer’s amyloid, tau and FDG PET status

  Translational Psychiatry · 2021 · 68 citations

  Plasma phosphorylated-tau181 (p-tau181) showed the potential for Alzheimer's diagnosis and prognosis, but its role in detecting cerebral pathologies is unclear. We aimed to evaluate whether it could serve as a marker for Alzheimer's pathology in the brain. A total of 1189 participants with plasma p-tau181 and PET data of amyloid, tau or FDG PET were included from ADNI. Cross-sectional relationships of plasma p-tau181 with PET biomarkers were tested. Longitudinally, we further investigated whethe…

  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01AG033288

  NIH · $1.6M · 2015

• NIH Grant R01AG037561

  NIH · $1.6M · 2016

• Neuropathology Core

  NIH · $45.9M · 2020–2030

Frequent coauthors

• Pierre N. Tariot

  Banner Alzheimer’s Institute

  231 shared

• John C. Morris

  Washington University in St. Louis

  188 shared

• Clifford R. Jack

  WinnMed

  188 shared

• Wendy J. Mack

  Southern California University for Professional Studies

  171 shared

• Andrew J. Saykin

  Indiana University

  166 shared

• John Hsiao

  National Institute on Aging

  150 shared

• Robert C. Green

  Ariadne Diagnostics (United States)

  148 shared

• Karen Dagerman

  Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

  141 shared

Labs

• Laurel C. Schneider LabPI

Awards & honors

• President-Elect of the American Academy of Religion

Similar researchers at University of Southern California

• Peng Yinh-72
• Steven J. Sandageh-37
• James McCartyh-29