Amber Watts, PhD

Dr. Watts
  • Professor
  • Lab Director
  • Psychology (Clinical; Brain Behavior and Quantitative)

Contact Info

Fraser Hall
Lawrence, KS

Personal Links

Biography —

My research investigates health behaviors (physical activity and sleep) and biological processes associated with healthy aging, cognitive aging, & Alzheimer's disease. My recent research focuses on menopause-related changes and their influence on cognitive function and Alzheimer's disease risk. My research projects are supported by the KU Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and the KU Center of Biomedical Research Excellence, Leveraging Big Data to Advance Women's Health.
 

Education —

PhD in Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Research —

Current research projects in the BRANCH Lab include:
 
1) Cognition in Menopause (The MenoCog Study)
This project evaluates risk and preventive factors for cognitive dysfunction during the menopause transition, including actigraphy-derived physical activity and sleep.
 
2) The Midlife Cohort for Alzheimer's Risk
This project investigates risk factors for Alzheimer's disease that begin in midlife, focusing on sex differences in risk factors and characteristics of the menopause transition. Sub-projects include investigation of 1) how early life traumatic experiences are associated with later physical and psychological health outcomes in midlife, 2) how hormone based medications influence sleep in midlife.
 
3) Effects of early and premature menopause on brain health
This is a systematic scoping review of studies measuring brain imaging or brain pathology outcomes in early and premature menopause.
 
4) Mitochondrial Bioenergetics in Menopause
This project investigates associations of mitochondrial function, cognitive performance, and FDG-PET neuroimaging in peri- and early post-menopause. 

Research interests:

  • Cognitive Aging
  • Alzheimer's Disease
  • Older Adults
  • Midlife
  • Physical Activity
  • Sleep
  • Accelerometry
  • Lifestyle Interventions
  • Menopause
  • Sex Differences

Teaching —

I currently direct the undergraduate Honors in Psychology program (PSYC 460). At the graduate level, I teach Design and Analysis for Developmental Research (PSYC 815)

Selected Publications —

  1. Honea, R. A., Watts, A. (co-first authors), Donofry, S. D., Molina-Hidalgo, C., Ripperger, H. S., Aghjayan, S. L., Kang, C., Gujral, S., Oberlin, L. E., Grove, G., Huang, H., Sutton, B. P., Burns, J. M., Vidoni, E. D., Kramer, A. F., McAuley, E., Hillman, C. H., Marsland, A. L., Kamboh, M. I., & Erickson, K. I., (2026). Lifespan exposure to hormone therapies and structural brain morphometry in older women. NeuroImage, 121974. (IF: 4.5) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.121974
  2. Wiranto, Y., Setiawan, D., Watts, A., & Ashourvan, A. (in press). Development of Alzheimer’s disease risk score for future integrated primary care: A white-box approach. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 18:1759273. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2026.1759273
  3. Holden, R., Szabo-Reed, A. N., Watts, A., Clutton, J., Finley, K., Fitzgerald-Wolf, S., & Burns, J. M.  (2026). Physician referral is associated with recruitment, motivation, and adherence in an exercise intervention study for older adults. Journal of the National Medical Association, 118(1), 103-112. https://doi-org.www2.lib.ku.edu/10.1016/j.jnma.2025.11.002
  4. Baber, G. R., Hamilton, N. A., Girard, J. M., Sikka, P., Watts, A., Jun, D., Gratton, M. K. P., Cohen, J. M., Quesada, A. K., Nichols, E. C., & Cunningham, T. J. (2026). Testing affect regulation theories of dreaming. Sleep. Zsag046, https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsag046 
  5. Setiawan, D., *Wiranto, Y., Girard, J. M., Watts, A., & Ashourvan, A. (2025). Individualized machine-learning-based clinical assessment recommendation system. PLOS Digital Health, 4(9): e0001022. 
  6. Losinski, G. M., Key, M. N., Vidoni, E. D., Clutton, J., Morris, J. K., Burns, J. M., Watts, A. (2025). Postmenopausal sex differences in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease biomarker risk profiles: An exploratory multimodal neuroimaging study. Frontiers in Global Women’s Health, 6, https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2025.1531062
  7. Watts. A., Donofry, S., Ripperger, H., Eklund, N. M., Wang, L., Kang, C., Grove, G., Oberlin, L. E., Guijral, S., Vidoni, E. D., Burns, J. M., McAuley, E., Hillman, C. H., Kramer, A. F., Kamboh, M. I., & Erickson, K. I. (2025). Lifetime estrogen exposure and domain-specific cognitive performance: Results from the IGNITE study. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 17, 1524474. https://doi:10.3389/fnagi.2025.1524474
  8. Watts, A., Szabo-Reed, A., Baker, J., Vacek, J., Clutton, J., Mahnken, J., Key, M. N., Vidoni, E. D., & Burns, J. M. (2024).LEAP! Rx: A pragmatic approach to lifestyle medicine prescription. Alzheimer’s and Dementia. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.14265
  9. Wiranto, Y., Siengsukon, C., Vidoni, E., Mazzotti, D., Burns, J. M., & Watts, A. (2024). Sex differences in the role of sleep on cognition in older adults. Sleep Advances, 5(1), zpae066.
  10. Medina, V., Watts, A., Fracachan-Cabrera, M., Hazlewood, C., Ramirez- Mantilla, M., Vidoni, E., & Perales-Puchalt, J., (2024). Analysis of engagement with CuidaTEXT, a text message intervention for dementia caregiver support among Latinos/as. Ethnicity & Health. doi: 10.1080/13557858.2024.2387111
  11. Honea, R. A., Hunt, S., Lepping, R. J., Vidoni, E. D., Morris, J. K., Watts, A., Michaelis, E., Burns, J. M., & Swerdlow, R. H. (2023). Alzheimer’s disease cortical morphological phenotypes are associated with TOMM40 ‘523-APOE haplotypes. Neurobiology of Aging, 132, 131-144. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.09.001
  12. Watts, A., Haneline, S., Welsh-Bohmer, K. A., Wu, J., Alexander, R., Swerdlow, R.H., Burns, D. K., Saunders, A. M. (2023). TOMM40 ‘523 genotype distinguishes patterns of cognitive improvement for executive function in APOE ε3 homozygotes. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. doi: 10.3233/JAD-230066
  13. Hicks, H., & Watts, A. (2023). Differential effects of chronotype on physical activity and cognitive performance in older adults. Frontiers: Epidemiology.doi:10.3389/fepid.2023.1029221
  14. Watts, A. & Jen, S. (2023). Context-dependent sexual changes during women’s midlife transitions. Journal of Women and Aging. doi: 10.1080/08952841.2023.2195321
  15. Perales-Puchalt, J., Ramirez-Mantilla M., Fracachan-Cabrera, M., Vidoni, E. D., Ellerbeck, E. F., Ramirez, A. S., Watts, A., Williams, K., and Burns, J. M. (2022). A text message intervention to support Latino dementia family caregivers (CuidaTEXT): Feasibility study. Clinical Gerontologist. DOI: 10.1080/07317115.2022.2137449
  16. Watts, A., Chalise, P., Hu, H., Hui, D., Pa, J., Andrews, S., Michaelis, E. K., & Swerdlow, R.(2022). A mitochondrial DNA haplogroup defines patterns of five-year cognitive change. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. doi:10.3233/JAD-220298
  17. Ghosal, R., Varma, V. R., Volfson, D., Urbanek, J., Hausdorff, J. M., Watts, A., & Zipunnikov, V. (2022). Scalar on time-by-distribution regression and its application for modelling associations between daily-living physical activity and cognitive functions in Alzheimer’s Disease. Scientific Reports, 12:11558, doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15528-5
  18. Perales-Puchalt, J., Acosta-Rullan, M., Ramirez-Mantilla, M. Espinoza-Kissell, P., Vidoni, E., Niedens, M., Ellerbeck, E., Hinton, L., Loera, L., Susana Ramirez, A., Lara, E., Watts, A., Williams, K. Resendez, J., & Burns, J. (2022). Development of CuidaTEXT: A text message intervention to support Latino dementia family caregivers. JMIR Aging, 5(2),e35625, doi:10.2196/35625

Awards & Honors —

Menopause Society Mentorship Program (2022-2024)

Public Scholars Trainee (2022)

Keeler Fellowship (Spring 2021)

First Book Workshop, Hall Center (Spring 2020)

Fellow, Gerontological Society of America (2018)

Retirement Research Foundation Scholarship (2016)

Retirement Research Foundation Fellow (2015)

ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Aging Research Visiting Fellowship (2015)

Grants & Other Funded Activity —

2024-2028        

A. Watts (Research Project Leader)

Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE), National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and NIH Office of the Director (OD)

COBRE title: Leveraging Big Data to Improve Women’s Health

Project title: Risk and Prevention Factors for Cognitive Function in the Menopause Transition

 

2026-2027 

A. Watts (PI)

Establishing the Mitochondrial Menopause Paradigm and its role in Alzheimer’s Disease Risk

Landon Center on Aging, University of Kansas Medical Center

 

2022-2023       

A. Watts (PI)

Developing a Representative Cohort to study Midlife Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s Disease

Developmental Award, KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center

 

2022-2023       

A. Watts (PI)

Sex-based disparities in Alzheimer’s disease risk at Midlife

General Research Fund, KU

 

Service —

  • Director, Undergraduate Honors in Psychology
  • Board of Directors, Brain Health Training Program, University of Kansas Medical Center
  • Board of Directors, Night of Hope
  • Data Safety Monitoring Board, NIH