Our lab investigates the mechanisms underlying cerebrovascular diseases and vascular cognitive impairment through multimodal human brain imaging, peripheral blood sampling and formal cognitive assessment.
We focus on rare, monogenic microvasculopathies, including sickle cell anemia, RVCL‑S and CADASIL, to identify disease mechanisms and discover potential therapeutic targets. By mapping disease pathways in these rare inherited conditions, we aim to advance the development of treatments and preventative strategies for more common cerebrovascular disorders, such as acute ischemic stroke and sporadic cerebral small vessel disease, which are often heterogeneous and slower to progress.
With generous support…
Our lab is supported through grants funded by the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (RF1 NS116565, UF1NS125512) as well as by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL129241).
Andria L. Ford, MD, MSCI
Principal investigator
Ford specializes in stroke in the young adult population, neurological complications of sickle cell disease, inherited small vessel diseases including RVCL-S and CADASIL, as well as sporadic cerebral small vessel disease and vascular dementia.
She cares for stroke patients at Barnes Jewish Hospital and the Outpatient Stroke Center at WashU Medicine. She is chief of the stroke section at the Department of Neurology.
Ford leads an NIH-funded research program with a goal to understand and find new treatments and prevention strategies for patients with inherited and sporadic cerebral small vessel diseases. She also directs the Stroke Patient Access Core (SPAC) overseeing participant enrollment into numerous clinical stroke trials conducted at WashU Medicine.
Banner image description: Infarct density map from 286 children with sickle cell anemia and silent cerebral infarcts in the Silent Infarct Transfusion Trial. Infarct density was calculated as the sum of participants with a lesion in the voxel divided by the total number of participants. Infarcts occur in the deep white matter where cerebral blood flow is at a nadir.