Kyra S. O'Brien, MD, MSHP
Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Senior Fellow, Penn Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics
Associate Program Director, Penn Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Medical Director, Penn Medicine GUIDE Program, Penn Medicine
Department: Neurology
Contact information
Penn Neuroscience Center - Neurology
3400 Civic Center Blvd
2nd Floor, South Pavilion
Philadelphia, PA 19104
3400 Civic Center Blvd
2nd Floor, South Pavilion
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Education
BS (Biology)
Yale University, 2012.
MD (Medicine)
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 2016.
MSHP (Health services research)
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, 2024.
BS (Biology)
Yale University, 2012.
MD (Medicine)
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 2016.
MSHP (Health services research)
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, 2024.
Post-Graduate Training
Intern, Internal Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2016-2017.
Resident physician, Neurology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2017-2020.
Clinical Fellow, Cognitive Neurology, Penn Memory Center, University of Pennsylvania, 2020-2021.
Intern, Internal Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2016-2017.
Resident physician, Neurology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2017-2020.
Clinical Fellow, Cognitive Neurology, Penn Memory Center, University of Pennsylvania, 2020-2021.
Certifications
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology - Neurology, 2020.
United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties, Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, 2022.
Permanent linkAmerican Board of Psychiatry and Neurology - Neurology, 2020.
United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties, Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, 2022.
Description of Clinical Expertise
Dementia, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, memory disorders, cognitive evaluation, dementia diagnosis, dementia careDescription of Research Expertise
Dementia care delivery, health services researchSelected Publications
Carolyn Chow, Maayra I. Butt, Julia McMillan, Melanie Bahti, Jasmine A Silvestri, Tamar Klaiman, Kristin Harkins, Jason Karlawish, Justin Clapp, Kyra O'Brien, Catherine L Auriemma: Patient, care partner, and clinician perspectives on a “good day” with dementia. Alzheimer's & Dementia: Behavior and Socioeconomics of Aging Oct 2026.Qiong Wua, Lu Li, Yuqing Lei, Ting Zhou, Huilin Tang, Bingyu Zhang, Yiwen Lu, Maxwell Salvatore, Dazheng Zhang, Jiayi Tong, Tingyin Wang, Siqi Chen, Haoyang Li, Zhenxing Xu, Yu Huang, Yu Hu, Na Hong, Yujia Zhou, Fongci Lin, Kyra S. O’Brien, Yong Chen, Ruowang Li, Hua Xu, Fei Wang, Jiang Bian, David A. Wolk, Yong Chen: Discovering repurposable drugs for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias: target trial emulation using decentralised real-world data. eBioMedicine Sep 2026.
Claire Erickson, Kyra S. O'Brien, Emily A. Largent, Kristin Harkins, Cameron Coykendall, Melanie Kleid, Justin T. Clapp, Jason Karlawish: Expert consensus on communicating tau PET results to persons living with MCI or dementia: Findings from a modified Delphi study. Alzheimer's & Dementia 22(4), Apr 2026.
Kyra O’Brien, Sydney Pugh, Cameron Coykendall, Matthew Hill, Sy Hwang, Rachel Wu, Kuk Jang, Stacy Iannone, Karen O’Connor, Eric Eaton, and Kevin Johnson: WATCH: Warning Assessment and Alerting Tool for Cognitive Health. Poster session presented at the fourth annual a2 National Symposium March 2026.
Kyra O'Brien, Cameron Coykendall, Kristin Harkins, Xingmei Wang, Abigail Perelman, Megan Zhang, Jason Karlawish: Study of the utility and impact of a plasma p-tau181 Alzheimer’s biomarker (SUITABLE). Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions March 2026.
Sydney Pugh, Matthew Hill, Sy Hwang, Rachel Wu, Kuk Jang, Stacy Iannone, Karen O’Connor, Kyra O’Brien, Eric Eaton, Kevin Johnson : WATCH-SS: A Trustworthy and Explainable Modular Framework for Detecting Cognitive Impairment from Spontaneous Speech. Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing Jan 2026.
Kyra O'Brien, Wheeler Maxwell, Stacy Iannone, Cameron Coykendall, Jason Karlawish, Joseph Teel, Robert Burke: Feasibility Pilot of a Cognitive Impairment Detection Pathway in Primary Care. Poster session presented at the 2026 Association International Conference, London, England 2026.
Kyra O'Brien, Kristin Harkins, Subhamoy Pal, Jonathan M. Reader, Jason Karlawish, Sarah J. Barber for the REVEAL-SCAN Study Team: Psychological Impact Of Learning Brain Amyloid PET Results In Cognitively Unimpaired Older Adults In The REVEAL-SCAN Study. Poster session presented at the 2026 Association International Conference, London, England 2026.
Katheryn A Q Cousins, Rory Boyle, Colleen Morse, Anurag Verma, Christopher A Brown, Kyra S O'Brien, Marina Serper, Nadia Dehghani, Penn Medicine BioBank, Corey T McMillan, Edward B Lee, Leslie M Shaw, David A Wolk: Electronic Health Records to Test Multimorbidity Influences to Plasma Biomarker Interpretation for Alzheimer's Disease. Annals of Neurology Dec 2025.
Kyra O'Brien and Jason Karlawish: Alzheimer’s Disease: New Diagnostic Technologies and Treatments - The Role of Neuroimaging in Diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease. American Geriatrics Society. Harper GM (eds.). American Geriatrics Society, Nov 2025.