Heidi
Jacobs

Dr. Heidi Jacobs is an Associate Professor of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where she leads a research program focused on detecting the earliest brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease. Trained as a clinical neuropsychologist with expertise in brain imaging, she has spent over a decade studying small yet critically important brainstem structures, regions that are among the first to be damaged by Alzheimer’s disease, long before memory problems emerge. Dr. Jacobs pioneered the development of novel imaging methods to visualize these tiny brain regions in living people. Her research and that of her trainees have been supported by the BrightFocus Foundation, the NIH, the Alzheimer’s Association, and European funding agencies. She has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications and actively mentors the next generation of scientists. She received the Distinguished Investigator award 2025 from the Academy for Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research and de Leon Neuroimaging award 2022. Dr. Jacobs also serves in leadership roles in the Neuromodulatory Subcortical Systems Professional Interest Area of ISTAART and serves as a scientific program committee member for the Human Amyloid Imaging Conference and Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. The current project represents a natural and exciting extension of her work and expertise, turning the lens from the locus coeruleus to the dorsal raphe nucleus, a serotonin-producing structure that may hold the key to earlier detection of Alzheimer’s disease and to mechanistic insights that can inform new treatment designs or targets.