Ann McKee, MD

William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Neurology & Pathology, Boston University; Director, BU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center & BU CTE Center

Ann McKee, MD, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Pathology at Boston University, is a board-certified neurologist and neuropathologist whose research has transformed scientific understanding of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and post-traumatic neurodegeneration. She demonstrated that repetitive head impacts—including concussive and sub-concussive trauma in athletes, military personnel, and others—can cause CTE, and she defined the diagnostic criteria and staging of the disease.

Dr. McKee directs the BU CTE Center and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, where she oversees the world’s largest brain bank devoted to traumatic brain injury. Her research has linked repetitive trauma to tau pathology, gene expression changes, neuroinflammation, and loss of neurons and synapses, and she was first to report cases of CTE in multiple sports as well as its association with ALS.

Named to the Time 100 Most Influential People and elected to the National Academy of Medicine, Dr. McKee’s work has made CTE a global public health priority.