Abraham Reichenberg
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY·Public Health & Epidemiology
Some people with neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions face health risks across their whole lives, from before birth to old age. These projects use very large medical and population datasets, mainly national health registries and long-running patient cohorts in several countries.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Psychology
- Topics
autism spectrum disorder
Alzheimer's disease
dementia
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Nov 2030
What they work on
- Measure early Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) risk in adults with autism using Swedish national registers, testing modifiers including sex, intellectual disability, ADHD and epilepsy.
- Model how changing conditions such as depression and cardiovascular disease link autism to dementia with longitudinal statistics, and replicate results in US and Israeli datasets.
- Test familial clustering of dementia in relatives of autistic people and search existing genomic and sequencing data from more than 400,000 people for shared genetic causes of ASD and ADRD.
- Screen all prescription and over-the-counter medicines used in pregnancy for links to offspring autism in 1.2 million Israeli births, testing effects of timing, duration, co-medication, indication and child sex.
- Separate causal from confounded medication effects using sibling comparisons, paternal exposure as a negative control, drug grouping by pharmacological features and discontinuation analysis, with replication in Sweden, Finland and the US.
- Test whether social isolation predicts poor health and accelerated aging in 500 people with schizophrenia and 150 siblings, reassessed at ages 40–70 across US and European sites.
- Examine the direction and moderating factors of the isolation–health link in schizophrenia, and whether the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns changed it.
More about the research
The data are used to identify who is at risk and why. One project traces how medicines taken in pregnancy relate to autism. Another asks whether autistic adults develop dementia early, and a third asks whether social isolation speeds up aging in schizophrenia. Each project combines several data sources and designs to separate true causes from confounding, meaning misleading associations driven by other factors.
Why it matters
This work could identify high-risk groups and modifiable risk factors, such as specific pregnancy medications or midlife social isolation. Those findings could guide prevention for autism, early dementia and premature death in schizophrenia. It may help pregnant women and doctors weigh medication risks and support early dementia screening for aging autistic adults. It could also point to socialization as a target for improving health in people with schizophrenia.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
The risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias among individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (AsDRD)
NIH · Feb 2026 – Nov 2030
Prenatal medication exposure in autism, birth complications and developmental disabilities
NIH · Sep 2022 – Aug 2027
The impact of social isolation on aging health in schizophrenia
NIH · Aug 2022 – May 2027
Closest labs
Eduardo Villamor
University of Michigan, MI·Public Health & Epidemiology
Build a whole-country cohort of more than 1.4 million grandmother–parent–grandchild triads by linking nationwide Swedish registries.
Raquel Gur
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Track psychiatric symptoms and neurocognition over time in about 300 adolescents and young adults with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, using dimensional measures with a focus on the emergence of psychosis.
Ruth Carper
San Diego State University, CA·Neuroscience
Track changes in brain anatomy, function and connectivity in autistic and typical adults aged 40–70 using multimodal MRI, and relate them to motor, executive and emotional changes.
The school
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai: 45 labs on PI Pages, $1.0B a year on research, 62 research doctorates a year.
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