Manouchehr Seyedi Vafaee appointed professor at SDU

Focus on dementia, developmental disorders and lifestyle diseases

Manouchehr Vafaee’s research centers on Alzheimer’s disease (AD), dementia and the ageing brain. He also investigates developmental disorders such as autism, ADHD and schizophrenia. Since 2021, his research group has used advanced imaging techniques (PET/MRI) to map the brains of over 100 healthy individuals aged 20–80. The results have provided new insights into the neurobiology of healthy ageing and were published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (2025).

His current research focuses on disease progression in AD – particularly the interaction between the key biomarker’s amyloid and tau. The group is also examining risk factors such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and traumatic brain injury.

New projects will use deep learning to compare brain scans from healthy older adults with data from people with mild cognitive impairment and AD. The goal is to map the course of the disease. At the same time, new studies are planned on the role of the gut–brain axis in the development of Alzheimer’s.

Embedded in strong research environments

The professorship is based at the Department of Clinical Research, SDU, in collaboration with Odense University Hospital and Psychiatry in the Region of Southern Denmark. Since 2021, Manouchehr Vafaee has taught medical students and coordinated the bachelor project B11. He is also affiliated with leading research environments in Canada and Japan, including the Montreal Neurological Institute and the Biomedical Imaging Research Center at the University of Fukui.
The appointment will take effect on 1 July 2025.

An international profile with a background in physics

Manouchehr Vafaee holds degrees in physics and medical physics from McGill University in Canada, where he also earned a PhD in integrative neuroscience. He has worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Emory University in the USA and held positions at Aarhus University Hospital and the Panum Institute in Copenhagen. He also obtained his doctoral degree (DMSc.) in February 2025.

Since 2016, he has been affiliated with the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Odense University Hospital (OUH), and in 2017 he was appointed associate professor at the Psychiatric Research Unit at the same hospital.

He has published more than 100 scientific articles and has collaborated with leading researchers such as Albert Gjedde and Hidehiko Okazawa. He supervises both Danish and international students and teaches disease mechanisms and new treatments for Alzheimer’s.