The social biology of neurodegeneration: Contextual stress, neuroimmune adaptation, and Alzheimer's disease vulnerability

Celina Valencia examines how social and environmental conditions may alter susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias through neuroendocrine and immune adaptation. The talk presents a contextual-stress framework connecting cumulative exposures across the lifespan with neurodegenerative vulnerability. Evidence from the NIH All of Us Research Program, the Precision Aging Network, and longitudinal studies of menopausal aging links neighborhood deprivation, depression, inflammatory signaling, and biomarkers of vulnerability. These findings motivate an integrated account of how contextual stress contributes to differences in neuroimmune regulation and dementia risk.