Meet Our Researchers

Principal Investigator

Thomas H. Mosley, Jr., Ph.D. 

Robbie and Dudley Hughes Distinguished MIND Center Chair
Director, The MIND Center
Principal Investigator, The UMMC MIND Center – Mayo Clinic Study of Aging 

Dr. Tom Mosley is the Robbie and Dudley Hughes Distinguished MIND Center chair and Director of the Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). He holds the academic rank of tenured full professor in the departments of Geriatric Medicine and Neurology. He also serves as the Associate Director of Geriatric Medicine. Dr. Mosley joined the faculty at UMMC in 1990 following completion of a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology and behavioral neurology from Louisiana State University.

Dr. Mosley is a nationally recognized expert in brain aging and neurodegenerative dementia. His research portfolio spans more than two decades with continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health. With over 500 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Mosley’s research efforts have been largely devoted to population-based cardiovascular and neuroepidemiologic studies seeking to identify the determinants of brain aging, cognitive decline, and clinical outcomes of stroke, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia. A special focus of his research is understanding the contribution of vascular and genetic factors in brain aging, and elucidating the factors underlying differences in disease burden by race and ethnicity with the ultimate aim of identifying better tools for early diagnosis and treatment strategies aimed at prevention of MCI and dementia.

He is the Principal Investigator at UMMC for the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, where he leads the research efforts of the longest followed, population-based cohort of African-American participants to date, with more than 35 years of continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health. He is the principal investigator for The MIND Center-Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Dr. Mosley’s work has been recognized by several regional and national awards including the Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professor (UMMC), the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (Mississippi Psychological Association), and the national Bud Orgel Award for Distinguished Achievement in Research in Academic Health Centers.

Co-Principal Investigators

Beverly Gwen Windham, MD, MHS

Professor of Geriatric Medicine, Division of Geriatrics and Internal Medicine
Director, Neuroepidemiology Research Core, The MIND Center
Co-Principal Investigator, The UMMC MIND Center – Mayo Clinic Study of Aging

Dr. Gwen Windham received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in internal medicine. Dr. Windham also received a Master of Health Science degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics of Aging from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and completed a dual Clinical and Research Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University Health System in geriatric medicine.

Before returning to Jackson to practice at UMMC in 2009, Dr. Windham spent six years as a clinical scientist at the National Institute on Aging (a Division of the National Institutes of Health) where her research focus was to identify and intervene upon modifiable risk factors for cognitive and physical dysfunction in older persons. She is a Professor of Geriatric Medicine at UMMC and Director of The MIND Center’s Neuroepidemiology Research Core.

Dr. Windham has more than 20 years’ experience in geriatric medicine and caring for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Her research has focused on the role of obesity, cardiovascular risk factors, and inflammation as potentially modifiable factors related to healthy aging, mobility and dementia. Dr. Windham is co-principal investigator for The UMMC MIND Center-Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, site principal investigator of the Biomarkers for Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (MarkVCID) consortium study and the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Neurocognitive study at UMMC, and co-investigator on multiple other longitudinal cohort studies of aging.  

Michael E. Griswold, PhD

Dea Dea Adams Baker MIND Center Professor of Biostatistics and Data Science, Department of Medicine, The MIND Center
Director, MINDSET Research Core, The MIND Center
Co-Principal Investigator, The UMMC MIND Center – Mayo Clinic Study of Aging

Dr. Mike Griswold received his PhD in Biostatistics at The Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland and is a Professor of Biostatistics and Data Science in The Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). He is also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Biostatistics at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Prior to his work with The MIND Center, Dr. Griswold served as the founding chair of the UMMC Department of Data Science, as Principal Investigator of multiple population health, data science grants and contracts, and as director of several biostatistics and data science centers. Dr. Griswold currently directs the MIND Center’s Science, Evidence and Technology (MINDSET) Core where he oversees data science and analytic operations for several ongoing MIND Center research studies including the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, the ARIC Neurocognitive Study (ARIC-NCS), and the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy (GENOA) study. In partnership with Drs. Tom Mosley and Gwen Windham, he has helped guide the design and implementation of The UMMC MIND Center - Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (SOA) where he serves as co-principal investigator.