David Wolk, MD

David WolkDr. Wolk is an Assistant Professor of Neurology in the Cognitive Neurology Division. He is board-certified in Neurology. He completed his medical training at Johns Hopkins University, a Neurology Residency at the University of Pennsylvania, and Clinical Fellowship training in Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He completed a post-doctoral research fellowship studying memory in Alzheimer's Disease at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University. Prior to his return to Penn, he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and their Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.

Dr. Wolk is principally interested in episodic memory processes and the impact of aging and Alzheimer's disease on memory function. In addition to trying to understand the functional architecture and cognitive processes, which support normal memory, he has studied the value of memory measures and other markers that allow for early detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD). One of the major challenges in the diagnosis of very early Alzheimer's disease is differentiating the memory failures associated with the normal aging process from that reflecting early AD pathology. As such, his research currently focuses on memory changes in healthy aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and AD using Event-Related Potentials (a form of EEG), MRI (including structural and functional measures), and novel psychometric testing. It is hoped that these methods will contribute to early detection and intervention with emerging treatment modalities. Additionally, Dr. Wolk has begun to study interventions for enhancement of memory performance in aging. Studies: Exploration of Episodic Memory Enhancement in Aging with tDCS.

Publications

  • Zhanga Q, Stafford RB, Wang Z, Arnold SE, Wolk DA, Detre JA: Microvascular Perfusion Based on Arterial Spin Labeled Perfusion MRI as a Measure of Vascular Risk in Alzheimer's Disease. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease in press
  • Wolk DA, Detre JA: Arterial spin labeling MRI: an emerging biomarker for Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. Current Opinion in Neurology 25(4): 421-8, Aug 2012.
  • Wolk DA, Klunk W: Update on amyloid imaging: from healthy aging to Alzheimer's disease. Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports 9(5): 345-52, Sep 2009. PMCID: PMC2825106
  • Yarchoan M,Xie SX, Kling MA, Toledo JB, Wolk DA, Lee EB, Van Deerlin V, Lee VM, Trojanowski JQ, Arnold SE: Cerebrovascular Atherosclerosis Correlates with Alzheimer Pathology in Neurodegenerative Dementias. Brain in press.
  • Negash S, Xie S, Davatzikos C, Trojanowski J, Shaw L, Clark C, Wolk D*, Arnold S*: Cognitive and Functional Resilience Despite Molecular Evidence ofAlzheimer's Disease Pathology. Alzheimer's and Dementia in press Notes: *Co-senior authors.
  • Wolk DA, Zhang Z, Boudhar S, Clark CM, Pontecorvo MJ, Arnold SE: Amyloid imaging in Alzheimer's disease: comparison of florbetapir and Pittsburgh compound-B positron emission tomography. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry Jul 2012.
  • Das SR, Pluta J, Mancuso L, Kliot D, Orozco S, Dickerson BC, Yushkevich PA, Wolk DA: Increased functional connectivity within medial temporal lobe in mild cognitive impairment. Hippocampus Jul 2012.
  • Becker JT, Fabrizio M, Sudre G, Haridis A, Ambrose T, Aizenstein HJ, Eddy W, Lopez OL, Wolk DA, Parkkonen L, Bagic A: Potential utility of resting-state magnetoencephalography as a biomarker of CNS abnormality in HIV disease. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 206(2): 176-82, May 2012. PMCID: PMC3327782
  • Arnold SE, Louneva N, Cao K, Wang L, Han L, Wolk DA, Negash S, Leurgans SE, Schneider JA, Buchman AS, Wilson RS, Bennett DA: Cellular, synaptic, and biochemical features of resilient cognition in Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiology of Aging May 2012.
  • Becker JT, Bajo R, Fabrizio M, Sudre G, Cuesta P, Aizenstein HJ, Lopez OL, Wolk D, Parkkonen L, Maestu F, Bagic A: Functional connectivity measured with magnetoencephalography identifies persons with HIV disease. Brain Imaging and Behavior Feb 2012. PMCID: PMC3351549
  • Arnold SE, Xie SX, Leung Y-Y, Wang L-S, Kling MA, Han X, Kim EJ, Wolk DA, Bennett DA, Chen-Plotkin A, Grossman M, Hu W, Lee V M-Y, Mackin RS, Trojanowski JQ, Wilson RS, Shaw LM: Plasma biomarkers of depressive symptoms in older adults. Translational Psychiatry 2: e65, Feb 2012.
  • Wolk DA, Price JC, Madeira C, Saxton JA, Snitz BE, Lopez OL, Mathis CA, Klunk WE, Dekosky ST: Amyloid imaging in dementias with atypical presentation. Alzheimer's & Dementia Jan 2012. PMCID: PMC3351549
  • Pluta J, Yushkevich P, Das S, Wolk D: In vivo Analysis of Hippocampal Subfield Atrophy in Mild Cognitive Impairment via Semi-Automatic Segmentation of T2-Weighted MRI. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 31(1): 85-99, Jan 2012. PMCID: PMC3391337
  • Wilckens KA, Tremel JJ, Wolk DA, Wheeler ME: Effects of task-set adoption on ERP correlates of controlled and automatic recognition memory. NeuroImage 55(3):1384-92: 1384-92, 2011.
  • Weintraub D, Doshi J, Koka D, Davatzikos C, Siderowf AD, Duda JE, Wolk DA, Moberg PJ, Xie SX, Clark CM: Neurodegeneration across stages of cognitive decline in Parkinson disease. Archives of Neurology 68(12): 1562-8, Dec 2011. PMCID: PMC3290902
  • Straube B, Wolk D, Chatterjee A: The role of the right parietal lobe in the perception of causality: a tDCS study. Experimental brain research. Experimentelle Hirnforschung. Experimentation Cerebrale 215(3-4): 315-25, Dec 2011. PMCID: PMC3191456
  • Ross LA, McCoy D, Coslett HB, Olson IR, Wolk DA: Improved proper name recall in aging after electrical stimulation of the anterior temporal lobes. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 3: 16, 2011. PMCID: PMC3191456
  • Hu S, Rao H, Mancuso L, Zhu S, Detre JA, Wolk DA: Effects of Aging on Temporal Lobe Blood Flow with Structural Correction in Healthy Older Adults. Journal of Cognitive Science 12(2): 171-193, 2011.
  • Dickerson BC, Wolk DA: MRI cortical thickness biomarker predicts AD-like CSF and cognitive decline in normal adults. Neurology 78(2): 84-90, Dec 2011. PMCID: PMC3351549
  • Wolk DA, Grachev ID, Buckley C, Kazi H, Grady MS, Trojanowski JQ, Hamilton RH, Sherwin P, McLain R, Arnold SE: Association between in vivo fluorine 18-labeled flutemetamol amyloid positron emission tomography imaging and in vivo cerebral cortical histopathology. Archives of Neurology 68(11): 1398-403, Nov 2011. PMCID: PMC3191456
  • Weintraub D, Dietz N, Duda JE, Wolk DA, Doshi J, Xie SX, Davatzikos C, Clark CM, Siderowf A: Alzheimer's disease pattern of brain atrophy predicts cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease. Brain 135(Pt 1): 170-80, Nov 2011. PMCID: PMC3316476
  • Chen Y, Wolk DA, Reddin JS, Korczykowski M, Martinez PM, Musiek ES, Newberg AB, Julin P, Arnold SE, Greenberg JH, Detre JA: Voxel-level comparison of arterial spin-labeled perfusion MRI and FDG-PET in Alzheimer disease. Neurology 77(22): 1977-85, Nov 2011. PMCID: PMC3235355
  • Musiek ES, Chen Y, Korczykowski M, Saboury B, Martinez PM, Reddin JS, Alavi A, Kimberg DY, Wolk DA, Julin P, Newberg AB, Arnold SE, Detre JA: Direct comparison of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging in Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 8(1): 51-9, Oct 2011. PMCID: PMC3235355
  • Wilckens KA, Tremel JJ, Wolk DA, Wheeler ME: Effects of task-set adoption on ERP correlates of controlled and automatic recognition memory. NeuroImage 55(3): 1384-92, Apr 2011. PMCID: PMC3049819
  • Kahn DA, Harris AM, Wolk DA, Aguirre GK: Temporally distinct neural coding of perceptual similarity and prototype bias. Journal of Vision 10(10): 12, 2010. PMCID: PMC3049819
  • Ross LA, McCoy D, Wolk DA, Coslett HB, Olson IR: Improved proper name recall by electrical stimulation of the anterior temporal lobes. Neuropsychologia 48(12): 3671-4, Oct 2010. PMCID: PMC2997155
  • Wolk DA, Dickerson BC : Fractionating verbal episodic memory in Alzheimer's disease. NeuroImage 54(2): 1530-9, Sep 2010. PMCID: PMC2997155
  • Wolk DA, Dickerson BC: Apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype has dissociable effects on memory and attentional-executive network function in Alzheimer's disease. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107(22): 10256-61, Jun 2010. PMCID: PMC2890481
  • Dickerson BC, Wolk DA : Dysexecutive versus amnesic phenotypes of very mild Alzheimer's disease are associated with distinct clinical, genetic and cortical thinning characteristics. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 82(1): 45-51, Jun 2010. PMCID: PMC3023235
  • Wolk DA, Dunfee KL, Dickerson BC, Aizenstein HJ, Dekosky ST: A medial temporal lobe division of labor: Insights from memory in aging and early Alzheimer disease. Hippocampus 21(5): 461-6, Mar 2010. PMCID: PMC2918673
  • Cohen AD, Price JC, Weissfeld LA, James J, Rosario BL, Bi W, Nebes RD, Saxton JA, Snitz BE, Aizenstein HA, Wolk DA, Dekosky ST, Mathis CA, Klunk WE: Basal cerebral metabolism may modulate the cognitive effects of Abeta in mild cognitive impairment: an example of brain reserve. The Journal of Neuroscience 29(47): 14770-8, Nov 2009. PMCID: PMC2810461
  • Wolk DA, Gold CA, Signoff ED, Budson AE: Discrimination and reliance on conceptual fluency cues are inversely related in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia 47(8-9): 1865-72, Jul 2009. PMCID: PMC2682586
  • Phillips JS, Velanova K, Wolk DA, Wheeler ME: Left posterior parietal cortex participates in both task preparation and episodic retrieval. NeuroImage 46(4): 1209-21, Jul 2009. PMCID: PMC2682586
  • Lopez OL, Becker JT, Wahed AS, Saxton J, Sweet RA, Wolk DA, Klunk W, Dekosky ST: Long-term effects of the concomitant use of memantine with cholinesterase inhibition in Alzheimer disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 80(6): 600-7, Jun 2009. PMCID: PMC2823571
  • Wolk DA, Price JC, Saxton JA, Snitz BE, James JA, Lopez OL, Aizenstein HJ, Cohen AD, Weissfeld LA, Mathis CA, Klunk WE, DeKosky ST: Amyloid imaging in mild cognitive impairment subtypes. Annals of Neurology 65(5): 557-68, May 2009. PMCID: PMC2828870
  • Wolk DA, Sen NM, Chong H, Riis JL, McGinnis SM, Holcomb PJ, Daffner KR: ERP correlates of item recognition memory: effects of age and performance. Brain Research 1250: 218-31, Jan 2009. PMCID: PMC2712353
  • Wolk DA, Signoff ED, Dekosky ST: Recollection and familiarity in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: a global decline in recognition memory. Neuropsychologia 46(7): 1965-78, 2008. PMCID: PMC2519866
  • Waring JD, Chong H, Wolk DA, Budson AE: Preserved metamemorial ability in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease: shifting response bias. Brain and Cognition 66(1): 32-9, Feb 2008. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Riis JL, Chong H, Ryan KK, Wolk DA, Rentz DM, Holcomb PJ, Daffner KR: Compensatory neural activity distinguishes different patterns of normal cognitive aging. NeuroImage 39(1): 441-54, Jan 2008. PMCID: PMC2219544
  • Dickerson BC, Fenstermacher E, Salat DH, Wolk DA, Maguire RP, Desikan R, Pacheco J, Quinn BT, Van der Kouwe A, Greve DN, Blacker D, Albert MS, Killiany RJ, Fischl B: Detection of cortical thickness correlates of cognitive performance: Reliability across MRI scan sessions, scanners, and field strengths. NeuroImage 39(1): 10-8, Jan 2008. PMCID: PMC2141650
  • Wolk DA, Schacter DL, Lygizos M, Sen NM, Chong H, Holcomb PJ, Daffner KR, Budson AE: ERP correlates of Remember/Know decisions: association with the late posterior negativity. Biological Psychology 75(2): 131-5, May 2007. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Daffner KR, Chong H, Riis J, Rentz DM, Wolk DA, Budson AE, Holcomb PJ: Cognitive status impacts age-related changes in attention to novel and target events in normal adults. Neuropsychology 21(3): 291-300, May 2007. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Budson AE, Wolk DA, Chong H, Waring JD: Episodic memory in Alzheimer's disease: separating response bias from discrimination. Neuropsychologia 44(12): 2222-32, 2006. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Daffner KR, Ryan KK, Williams DM, Budson AE, Rentz DM, Wolk DA, Holcomb PJ: Increased responsiveness to novelty is associated with successful cognitive aging. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 18(10): 1759-73, Oct 2006. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Wolk DA, Schacter DL, Lygizos M, Sen NM, Holcomb PJ, Daffner KR, Budson AE: ERP correlates of recognition memory: effects of retention interval and false alarms. Brain Research 1096(1): 148-62, Jun 2006. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Daffner KR, Ryan KK, Williams DM, Budson AE, Rentz DM, Wolk DA, Holcomb PJ: Age-related differences in attention to novelty among cognitively high performing adults. Biological Psychology 72(1): 67-77, Apr 2006. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Wolk DA, Schacter DL, Berman AR, Holcomb PJ, Daffner KR, Budson AE: Patients with mild Alzheimer's disease attribute conceptual fluency to prior experience. Neuropsychologia 43(11): 1662-72, 2005. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Wolk DA, Coslett HB, Glosser G: The role of sensory-motor information in object recognition: evidence from category-specific visual agnosia. Brain and Language 94(2): 131-46, Aug 2005. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Wolk DA, Schacter DL, Berman AR, Holcomb PJ, Daffner KR, Budson AE: An electrophysiological investigation of the relationship between conceptual fluency and familiarity. Neuroscience Letters 369(2): 150-5, Oct 2004. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Wolk DA, Coslett HB: Hemispheric mediation of spatial attention: pseudoneglect after callosal stroke. Annals of Neurology 56(3): 434-6, Sep 2004. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Cucchiara BL, Kasner SE, Wolk DA, Lyden PD, Knappertz VA, Ashwood T, Odergren T, Nordlund A : Early impairment in consciousness predicts mortality after hemispheric ischemic stroke. Critical Care Medicine 32(1): 241-5, Jan 2004. PMCID: PMC2405810
  • Cucchiara B, Kasner SE, Wolk DA, Lyden PD, Knappertz VA, Ashwood T, Odergren T, Nordlund A: Lack of hemispheric dominance for consciousness in acute ischaemic stroke. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 74(7): 889-92, Jul 2003. PMCID: PMC1738543
  • Wolk DA, Messé SR, Kasner SE: Pure sensory stroke from cortical infarction. Neurology 59(5): 783, Sep 2002. PMCID: PMC1738543
  • Golob EJ, Wolk DA, Taube JS: Recordings of postsubiculum head direction cells following lesions of the laterodorsal thalamic nucleus. Brain Research 780(1): 9-19, Jan 1998. PMCID: PMC1738543