Zdenka Pausova

I am a scientist whose research focuses on how obesity and other vascular risk factors shape brain health across the lifespan. Trained in medicine, endocrinology and genetics, I integrate multi-omics approaches (genetics, epigenetics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics) with deep phenotyping, in large population-based cohorts. I complement this research with computational biology and experimental modeling.

I co-founded and direct the cardiometabolic, genetic, and multi-omics components of the Saguenay Youth Study, a longitudinal cohort of adolescents and their parents that investigates the early origins and transgenerational trajectories of cardiometabolic and brain disorders.

My research team partners with research groups from the USA and Europe through international consortia, such as CHARGE, BRIDGET and ENIGMA. My work has been widely published and recognized with competitive funding and international awards.

In recent years, my team has led research uncovering how obesity, metabolic disorders, and cerebrovascular disease contribute to cortical atrophy and dementia risk. We have demonstrated that obesity-related cortical atrophy shares molecular and cellular features with Alzheimer’s disease, identifying microglial inflammatory pathways and neuronal dysregulations underlying this link. We have discovered blood biomarkers of cerebral small-vessel disease, revealed genetic and vascular mechanisms driving cortical thinning and dementia, and shown that cortical atrophy begins in the early prediabetic stage.

My research at the BBRC will continue this line of work, focusing on how early-life experiences and vascular risk factors across the lifespan influence brain health. We aim to identify biologically informed biomarkers for risk stratification and precision prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, arguably one of the most significant health challenges facing our aging society today.

Current research duties:

• Group Leader of the Population Neuroscience Research Group, BBRC, Barcelona, Spain.
• Researcher at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine, Montreal, Canada
• Researcher at ECOGENE-21, Chicoutimi, Canada

Professional duties:

• Professor at the Department of Pediatrics, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada.

Previous professional duties:

• Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto (2015-2025).
• Professor, Department of Physiology, University of Toronto (2015-2025).
• Associate Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Canada (2010-2015).
• Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Canada (2010-2015).
• Principal Research Fellow, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom (2005-2010).
• Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Montreal, Canada (1998-2004).

Academic Background:

• Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Genetics of Essential Hypertension, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada. Mentor: Dr. P. Hamet (1996-1998).
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Genetics of Calcium-related Metabolic Disorders, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1990-1995).
• Residency, Internal Medicine, Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic (1986-1990)
• Medicine, MD degree, Purkyne (Masaryk) University, Brno, Czech Republic (1980-1986).