Ganesh Babulal, OTD, PhD
DEPARTMENT OF NEUROLOGY
Associate Professor of Neurology
2025 Dean’s Impact Award Recipient
Truly embodying a community-based, precision medicine approach, Ganesh M. Babulal, OTD, PhD, pushes the scientific community to see the big picture beyond the biomarkers of disease through the pioneering use of dataloggers, machine learning and exposome models, while keeping individual lives in focus. Babulal’s research ties together public health issues such as driving, stress and mood with cutting-edge technology and innovative methods. As PI for the NIH-funded DRIVES Project, Babulal uses GPS dataloggers, clinical assessments and AI to develop safety strategies, driver rehabilitation programs and community support programs for older adults. Babulal’s passion for reducing barriers to health for minoritized populations and dedication to building truly representative and sustained community partnerships has yielded rich gains; the NIH-funded ARCHES study boasts a record number of registered participants, along with the rebuilding of institutional trust in the local community. Globally, Babulal has leveraged his leadership positions and worked with collaborators to expand dementia research to low- and middle-income countries, whose populations are at higher risk for dementia but frequently overlooked in research. For Babulal, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias represent the loss of a lifetime’s worth of relationships, abilities and memories, as well as an associated cost of long-standing policies that influence well-being and access to health care.