Mary Ellen Koran

Dr. Mary Ellen Koran grew up in Annapolis, Maryland. She attended Duke University, where she was a Pratt research fellow in Biomedical Engineering. After graduating with honors, Dr. Koran moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a joint MD/PhD in Vanderbilt’s NIH-funded Medical Scientist Training Program. She completed her PhD in Human Genetics in the laboratory of Dr. Tricia Thornton-Wells, where she studied the radiogenomics of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Koran was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society, was active as a Student Advisor for the MSTP, and graduated with the Vanderbilt Founder’s Medal as Valedictorian of her medical school class. She matched into Stanford’s Radiology Residency Program, where she was served as Chief Resident and pursued a dual board pathway in Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine. While at Stanford she received the Etta Kalin Moskowitz Research Award and the RSNA Trainee Research Prize.

Dr. Koran was an Assistant Professor of Radiology in the Nuclear Medicine division at Vanderbilt University on the physician scientist tenure track, where she led the implementation of amyloid and tau PET for their exploratory Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. She received the Alzheimer’s Association Clinical Scientest Fellowship award and a BIRCWH (K12) award to evaluate the genetics of AD using large-scale positron emission tomography (PET) data (including PET from the electronic health record).

Dr. Koran joined the Mayo Clinic in Arizona faculty in June 2024 and will continue her research in imaging genetics and PET imaging of AD.