Corey T McMillan, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Member, Institute for Translational Medicine & Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania
Member, Penn Neurodegeneration Genomics Center, University of Pennsylvania
Member, MindCORE, University of Pennsylvania
Fellow, Penn Institute on Aging, Division of Clinical and Translational Neurodegenerative Disease Research, University of Pennsylvania
Co-Director, Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center (FTDC), University of Pennsylvania
Senior Fellow, Institute for Biomedical Informatics, University of Pennsylvania
Research Associate, Population Aging Research Center (PARC), University of Pennsylvania
Faculty Liason, Biomedical Postdoctoral Program (BPP), University of Pennsylvania
Department: Neurology
Contact information
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Department of Neurology
3400 Spruce Street
3 West Gates
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Department of Neurology
3400 Spruce Street
3 West Gates
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215 614 0987
Fax: 215 349 8464
Lab: 215 349 5863
Fax: 215 349 8464
Lab: 215 349 5863
Graduate Group Affiliations
Publications
Education
BA (Psychology & Cognitive Neuroscience)
Temple University, 2000.
MSc (Psycholinguistics)
University of Edinburgh, 2004.
PhD (Psychology)
University of Edinburgh, 2008.
BA (Psychology & Cognitive Neuroscience)
Temple University, 2000.
MSc (Psycholinguistics)
University of Edinburgh, 2004.
PhD (Psychology)
University of Edinburgh, 2008.
Post-Graduate Training
IGERT Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Institute for Research in Cognitive Science (Cognitive Neuroscience), 2008-2009.
NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Neurology (Bioinformatics), 2009-2012.
Permanent linkIGERT Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Institute for Research in Cognitive Science (Cognitive Neuroscience), 2008-2009.
NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Neurology (Bioinformatics), 2009-2012.
Description of Research Expertise
Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), are complex disorders that affect the brain and nervous system. These diseases can look very different from person to person because of differences in symptoms, genetics, and underlying biology. This complexity makes it difficult to diagnose people accurately, predict how their disease will progress, and develop effective treatments.My research focuses on understanding the biological causes of these diseases and finding better ways to diagnose and treat them. I believe that solving these complex health problems requires bringing together experts and methods from multiple scientific fields. Originally trained in cognitive neuroscience, I study how changes in the brain affect thinking, behavior, and movement. In my Bioinformatics in Neurodegenerative Disease (BiND) Lab, I combine data from brain imaging, genetics, clinical evaluations, and laboratory studies to better understand disease mechanisms.
My work primarily focuses on two groups of neurodegenerative diseases. The first includes frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which share common disease-related changes in the brain and nervous system but can cause a wide range of symptoms. The second includes Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Primary Age-Related Tauopathy (PART), conditions that share similar tau protein abnormalities but differ in other important biological features.
To study these diseases, I use advanced brain imaging techniques, genetic analyses, detailed cognitive and motor assessments, and studies of human tissue samples. By combining these approaches, I aim to identify reliable biomarkers, measurable biological indicators that can help doctors diagnose disease earlier, track disease progression, and evaluate whether new treatments are working.
My ultimate goal is to accelerate the development of effective therapies for neurodegenerative diseases and improve clinical trials for emerging treatments. Most recently, I am focused on strategies to achieve neurodegenerative disease prevention.
In addition to leading my research program, I support dementia-related research at the University of Pennsylvania as Co-Leader of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Genomics Core and Leader of the Frontotemporal Degeneration Imaging Core.
Selected Publications
Brown, C. A., Cousins, K. A. Q., Korecka, M., McGrew, E., Chen-Plotkin, A., Detre, J. A., McMillan, C. T., Lee, E. B., Das, S. R., Mechanic-Hamilton, D., Yushkevich, P. A., Nasrallah, I. M., Shaw, L. M., Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, & Wolk, D. A.: Temporal modeling of amyloid and tau trajectories in Alzheimer's disease using PET and plasma biomarkers. Annals of Neurology 99(6): 438-1451, Jun 2026.McMillan, C. T., Lee, E. B., Jefferson-George, K., Naj, A., Van Deerlin, V. M., Trojanowski, J. Q., & Wolk, D. A. : Alzheimer's genetic risk is reduced in primary age-related tauopathy: a potential model of resistance? Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology 5(8): 927-934, Jun 2018.
Cousins, K. A. Q., Shaw, L. M., Shellikeri, S., Dratch, L., Rosario, L., Elman, L. B., Quinn, C., Amado, D. A., Wolk, D. A., Tropea, T. F., Chen-Plotkin, A., Irwin, D. J., Grossman, M., Lee, E. B., Trojanowski, J. Q., & McMillan, C. T.: Elevated plasma phosphorylated tau 181 in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Annals of Neurology 92(5): 807-818, Nov 2022.
Spencer, B. E., Xie, S. X., Elman, L., Quinn, C. C., Amado, D., Baer, M., Lee, E. B., Van Deerlin, V. M., Dratch, L., Massimo, L., Irwin, D. J., & McMillan, C. T.: Cumulative incidence of motor and cognitive features in the ALS-FTD spectrum. Brain Communications 7(6): fcaf405, Jun 2025.
Shen, T., Vogel, J. W., Van Deerlin, V. M., Suh, E., Dratch, L., Phillips, J. S., Massimo, L., Lee, E. B., Irwin, D. J., & McMillan, C. T.: Disparate and shared transcriptomic signatures associated with cortical atrophy in genetic behavioral variant frontotemporal degeneration. Molecular Neurodegeneration 20(1): 17, Feb 2025.
Benatar, M., Staffaroni, A. M., Wuu, J., McDermott, M. P., Quintana, M., Swidler, J., Andersen, G., Huey, E. D., Turner, M. R., Macklin, E. A., Berry, J. D., McMillan, C. T., Gendron, T., Onyike, C., Rosen, H., Heuer, H., Grignon, A.-L., Dave, K., Balas, C., Gleixner, A., Satlin, A., Dunn, B., Dacks, P., & Boxer, A. L.: Design considerations for C9orf72 disease prevention trials. Brain 148(11): 3844-3855, Nov 2025.
Cousins, K. A. Q., Boyle, R., Morse, C., Verma, A., Brown, C. A., O'Brien, K. S., Serper, M., Dehghani, N., McMillan, C. T., Lee, E. B., Shaw, L. M., & Wolk, D. A.: Electronic health records to test multimorbidity influences to plasma biomarker interpretation for Alzheimer's disease. Annals of Neurology 99(4): 1030-1045, Apr 2026.
*Benatar, M., *Barmada, S., Jicha, G. A,, Lagier-Tourenne, C., Gregory, J., Al-Chalabi, A., Boeve, B. F., Jack, C. R., Seeley, W. W., Maragakis, N. J., Wuu, J., Zeier, Z., Onyike, C., Lewcock, J., Hovinga, C., Jafar-Nejad, P., Uspenskaya, O., Simmons, A., Browne, S. E., Rohrer, J., Petrucelli, L., Shapiro, J., Scharper, D., Boxer, A., Ostrow, L. W., Staffaroni, A. M., Dacks, P., Turner, M. R., Dave, K. D., de Majo, M., Mitic, L., Fradette, S., Budd Haeberlein, S., Simuni, T., Dunn, B., *McMillan, C. T., *Lee, E. B. (*authors contributed equally): TDP-43-associated neurodegenerative disease conceptualization and integrated staging: A review. JAMA Neurology in press.
Benatar, M., Huey, E.D., Onyike, C. U., McHutchison, C., Tartaglia, M. C., Barker, M. S., Abrahams, S., De Vocht, J., Rhodes, E., Pijnenburg, Y. A., Turner, M. R., van Damme, P., Lee, E. B., Wuu, J., Benussi, A., Boeve, B. F., McMillan, C. T., & Strong, M. J.: Conceptualizing cognition and behaviour across amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. Brain in press.