Ryan Townley, MD

Professional Background

Ryan Townley, M.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Kansas Medical Center and is the director of the Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology Fellowship. He is also the Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium Associate Director and Primary Investigator at the University of Kansas Alzheimer's Disease Center.

Dr. Townley is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and is UCNS certified in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry. Before joining the KU Medical Center faculty in August 2019, he completed a two-year cognitive-behavioral fellowship at the Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, where he also finished his neurology residency and an internal medicine internship. He graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, where he earned the 2013 Dewey K. Ziegler Award for Excellence in Neurology presented by the KU Department of Neurology and was honored with the American Academy of Neurology's Outstanding Neurology Medical Student Award. Prior to medical school, he earned a bachelor of science in neurobiology from the University of Kansas.

• BS, Neurobiology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
• MD, Medical Doctor, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, KS
• Other, Neurology, Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, Rochester, MN
• Other, Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, Rochester, MN

• ABPN Certified in Psychiatry and Neurology, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
• Medical License, Kansas State Board of Healing Arts
• UCNS Certified in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry , United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties

• International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment, Member, 2017 - Present
• American Academy of Neurology, Member, 2015 - Present

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Research

Overview

In addition to authoring a growing number of publications, Dr. Townley has presented numerous lectures and posters nationally and around the world. His clinical and research interests include Alzheimer's diseases variants such as posterior cortical atrophy and dysexecutive Alzheimer's, normal pressure hydrocephalus, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, and dementia with Lewy bodies. He also has professional interests in patient education and disease-related seminars, resident and medical student education, and preventative health against neurodegenerative disease.

• A Phase 3 Study to Evaluate Efficacy and Safety of AL001 in Frontotemporal Dementia (INFRONT-3), Alector, PI
• AHEAD 3-45 Study, National Institute on Aging (NIA), PI
• TRC-PAD Program: In-Clinic Trial-Ready Cohort, NIA, PI
• A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of ABBV-8E12 in Subjects With Early Alzheimer's Disease, AbbVie, Sub-Investigator
• A4 / Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's, NIA, Co-I
• ADNI3 / Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative-3, NIA, Sub-Investigator
• Assessment of Safety, Tolerability and Efficacy of LY3002813 in Early Symptomatic Alzheimer's Disease, Eli Lilly and Company, Sub-Investigator
• Dapa / Pilot Trial of Dapagiflozin in Alzheimer's Disease, Unclear, Sub-Investigator
• LEAP! Rx, Unclear, Sub-Investigator

• Vidoni, E., D, Townley, R., A, Honea, R., A, Burns, J., M. 2011. Alzheimer disease biomarkers are associated with body mass index.. Neurology, 77 (21), 1913-20
• Jones, David., T., Townley, Ryan., A., Graff-Radford, Jonathan, Botha, Hugo, Knopman, David., S., Petersen, Ronald., C., Jack, Clifford R., Jr., Lowe, Val., J., Boeve, Bradley., F.. 2018. Amyloid- and tau-PET imaging in a familial prion kindred. NEUROLOGY-GENETICS, 4 (6)
• Townley, Ryan., A., Dawson, Elliot., T., Drubach, Daniel., A.. 2018. Heterozygous genotype at codon 129 correlates with prolonged disease course in Heidenhain variant sporadic CJD: case report. NEUROCASE, 24 (1), 54-58
• Townley, Ryan., A., Botha, Hugo, Graff-Radford, Jonathan, Boeve, Bradley., F., Petersen, Ronald., C., Senjem, Matthew., L., Knopman, David., S., Lowe, Val, Jack, Clifford R., Jr., Jones, David., T.. 2018. F-18-FDG PET-CT pattern in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL, 18, 897-902
• Townley, Ryan., A., Syrjanen, Jeremy., A., Botha, Hugo, Kremers, Walter., K., Aakre, Jeremiah., A., Fields, Julie., A., Machulda, Mary., M., Graff-Radford, Jonathan, Savica, Rodolfo, Jones, David., T., Knopman, David., S., Petersen, Ronald., C., Boeve, Bradley., F.. 2019. Comparison of the Short Test of Mental Status and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Across the Cognitive Spectrum. MAYO CLINIC PROCEEDINGS, 94 (8), 1516-1523
• Townley, Ryan., A. 2020. "Progressive dysexecutive syndrome due to Alzheimer’s disease: a description of 55 cases and comparison to other phenotypes.". Brain Communications. https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/article/2/1/fcaa068/5847591
• Townley, Ryan., A. 2020. Longitudinal clinical, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging characterization of a kindred with a 12-octapeptide repeat insertion in PRNP: the next generation. Neurocase. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13554794.2020.1787458
• Vidoni, E., D, Morris, J., K, Watts, A, Perry, M, Clutton, J, Van Sciver, A, Kamat, A., S, Mahnken, J, Hunt, S., L, Townley, R, Honea, R, Shaw, A., R, Johnson, D., K, Vacek, J, Burns, J., M. 2021. Effect of aerobic exercise on amyloid accumulation in preclinical Alzheimer's: A 1-year randomized controlled trial.. PloS one, 16 (1), e0244893
• 2022. Chapter 78 - Frontotemporal Dementias
• Pleen, Joseph, Townley, Ryan. 2021. Alzheimer’s disease clinical trial update 2019–2021