Geriatric Psychiatry Research Program

Dr. Pomara is the Director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Division at NKI as well as the Mood States and Alzheimer’s Disease Risk Program at the New York University School of Medicine. See lab here: Mood States & Alzheimer’s Disease Risk Program | NYU Langone Health

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Dr. Pomara has been involved in research pertaining to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Geriatric Psychopharmacology for more than 30 years and has made many important contributions in these areas. He has been involved in many of the clinical trials that led to the FDA approval of medications currently used to treat AD. These medications include Memantine and Exelon. Dr. Pomara has made many important and original contributions in this area of study as well as to our understanding of this disease. Dr. Pomara has also received numerous grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH), published extensively, and presented at various national and international scientific meetings. He is a member of numerous scientific organizations, including the American and European College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

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Dr. Pomara and his research team have established a center at NKI offering treatment with the latest experimental agents for AD. Over the years, this program has enabled hundreds of patients to be safely treated with promising compounds years before they were actually introduced in the market. His participation in clinical trials is ongoing. Please see the research tab for current ongoing clinical trials.

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Nunzio Pomara, MD

Director

pomara@nki.rfmh.org

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Recent Publications: Google Scholar

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1. Pillai, A, Bruno, D, Nierenberg, J, Pandya, C, Feng, T, Reichert, C, ... & Pomara, N. Complement component 3 levels in the cerebrospinal fluid of Cognitively Intact Elderly Individuals with Major Depressive Disorder. Biomarkers in Neuropsychiatry, 2019: 1, 100007. doi: 10.1016/j.bionps.2019.100007. PMCID: PMC6961956.

2. Pomara N, Bruno D, Plaska CR, Pillai A, Ramos-Cejudo J, Osorio R, Imbimbo BP, Heslegrave A, Zetterberg H, Blennow K. Evidence of upregulation of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway in late-life depression. J Affect Disord. 2021 May 1;286:275-281. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.03.012. Epub 2021 Mar 9. PMID: 33756305; PMCID: PMC8058311.

3. Reichert Plaska, C., Heslegrave, A., Bruno, D., Ramos-Cejudo, J., Lee, S.H., Osorio, R., …& Pomara, N. (2024). Evidence for Reduced Anti-Inflammatory Microglial Phagocytic Response in Late-Life Major Depression. Brain, Behavior and Immunity 120, 248-255. Doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.05.030. PMCID: PMC11270917.

4. Pomara N, Bruno D, Nierenberg J, Reichert C, Fu M, Zetterberg H, Blennow K. CSF butyrylcholinesterase and acetylcholinesterase activity and their relationship to pro- inflammatory cytokines in late-life major depression. European neuropsychopharmacology. 2019: Conference:(31st): S79-S80. DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2018.11.1060

5. Bruno D, Grothe MJ, Nierenberg J, Zetterberg H, Blennow K, Teipel SJ, Pomara N. A study on the specificity of the association between hippocampal volume and delayed primacy performance in cognitively intact elderly individuals. Neuropsychologia. 2015 Mar; 69:1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropscyhologia.2015.01.025. Epub 2015 Jan 19. PubMed PMID: 25613646; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4344890.

6. Bruno D, Grothe MJ, Nierenberg J, Teipel SJ, Zetterberg H, Blennow K, Pomara N. The relationship between cerebrospinal fluid tau markers, hippocampal volume, and delayed primacy performance in cognitively intact elderly individuals. Alzheimer’s and Dementia. 2015;81-86. doi: 10.1016/j.dadm.2014.11.002. PMCID: PMC4527326.

7. Bruno D, Reiss PT, Petkova E, Sidtis JJ, Pomara N. Decreased recall of primacy words predicts cognitive decline. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. 2013 Mar;28(2):95-103. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acs116. Epub 2013 Jan 7. PubMed PMID: 23299182.

8. Bruno D, Nierenberg J, Cooper TB, Marmar CR, Zetterberg H, Blennow K, Hashimoto K, Pomara N. The recency ratio is associated with reduced CSF glutamate in late-life depression. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2017 May;141:14-18. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2017.03.011. Epub 2017 Mar 18. PMID: 28323201; PMCID: PMC5460071.