Olivia Okereke, M.D.
Co-Director, Mass General Neuroscience
Co-Director, MGH Division of Psychiatric Neuroimaging
Dr. Okereke is a Board-certified geriatric psychiatrist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. She is Director of Geriatric Psychiatry and Director (Clinical) of the Geriatric Psychiatry Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Okereke’s programmatic goals are: (1) to identify modifiable risk factors involved in adverse mental aging and (2) to translate and apply knowledge gained into strategies for large-scale prevention of late-life depression and cognitive decline. Her research portfolio has been supported by numerous National Institutes of Health, University and foundation awards. Currently, she is: evaluating the role of dietary factors, such as vitamin D and omega-3, along with novel biologic markers in relation to risk of late-life cognitive decline and depression; testing effects of nutritional interventions on late-life mood in large-scale randomized trial settings; and addressing relations of later-life depression and anxiety to molecular markers of biological aging, with attention to their potential contributions to disparities in health and aging.
Dr. Okereke is active in efforts to promote knowledge in geriatric mental health. She has provided education on healthy brain aging at community centers, Councils on Aging, and senior centers around Massachusetts. She has served on both the Board of Directors and the Medical & Scientific Advisory Committee of the Massachusetts/New Hampshire Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, and has been a Past Chair of the Chapter’s Annual Meeting
Publications
Okereke OI, Reynolds CF 3rd, Mischoulon D, Chang G, Cook NR, Copeland T, Friedenberg G, Buring JE, Manson JE. The VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL-Depression Endpoint Prevention (VITAL-DEP): Rationale and design of a large-scale ancillary study evaluating vitamin D and marine omega-3 fatty acid supplements for prevention of late-life depression. Contemp Clin Trials. 2018;68:133-145. PMID: 29526608
Chang SC, Pan A, Kawachi I, Okereke OI. Risk factors for late-life depression: A prospective cohort study among older women. Prev Med. 2016 Oct;91:144-151. PMID: 27514249
Okereke OI, Cook NR, Albert CM, Van Denburgh M, Buring JE, Manson JE. Effect of long-term supplementation with folic acid and B vitamins on risk of depression in older women. Br J Psychiatry. 2015 Apr;206(4):324-31. PMID: 25573400
Okereke OI, Prescott J, Wong JY, Han J, Rexrode KM, De Vivo I. High phobic anxiety is related to lower leukocyte telomere length in women. PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e40516. PMID: 22808180
Okereke OI, Rosner BA, Kim DH, Kang JH, Cook NR, Manson JE, Buring JE, Willett WC, Grodstein F. Dietary fat types and 4-year cognitive change in community-dwelling older women. Ann Neurol. 2012 Jul;72(1):124-34. Erratum in: Ann Neurol. 2012 Oct;72(4):627. PMID: 22605573
Koyama A, Okereke OI, Yang T, Blacker D, Selkoe DJ, Grodstein F. Plasma amyloid-β as a predictor of dementia and cognitive decline: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Neurol. 2012 Jul;69(7):824-31. PMID: 22451159
Okereke OI, Xia W, Selkoe DJ, Grodstein F. Ten-year change in plasma amyloid beta levels and late-life cognitive decline. Arch Neurol. 2009 Oct;66(10):1247-53. doi: 10.1001/archneurol.2009.207. PMID: 19822780
Okereke O, Hankinson SE, Hu FB, Grodstein F. Plasma C peptide level and cognitive function among older women without diabetes mellitus. Arch Intern Med. 2005 Jul 25;165(14):1651-6. PMID: 16043685