Walter A. Rocca, M.D., M.P.H.

Mayo Clinic

Contact Information

Walter A. Rocca, M.D., M.P.H.
Rochester, United States

Professional Information

Professor of Epidemiology and Neurology
Mayo Clinic

Education

Dr. Rocca received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Padua, Italy, his Diploma of Specialty in Neurology from the University of Verona, Italy, his Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Johns Hopkins University and at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Bio

Walter A. Rocca, M.D., M.P.H. is Professor of Epidemiology and Neurology and the Ralph S. and Beverley E. Caulkins Professor of Neurodegenerative Diseases Research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota (USA). Locally, he is the Director of the Rochester Epidemiology Project medical records-linkage system and Co-Director of the Mayo Clinic Specialized Center of Research on Sex Differences. Nationally, he has been member of the Science Committee of the American Academy of Neurology and has been Chair of its Clinical Research Subcommittee (2007-2014).

Dr. Rocca previously worked for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, for the Italian National Research Council, and for other European institutions. Dr. Rocca's research focuses on brain aging and on the etiology of common neurodegenerative diseases such as parkinsonism and dementia. The fundamental idea is that these diseases are heterogeneous at the population level, multifactorial at the individual level, and dimorphic (vary in men and women). These diseases are the result of complex genetic, environment, social, and cultural risk and protective factors interacting in different phases of life (intrauterine, perinatal, early development, childhood, adolescence, adult life, and late life). He has recently focused his work on the effects of surgical menopause and estrogen on brain aging in women and on multimorbidity as a clinical marker of accelerated aging. He is also contributing to the emerging fields of dimorphic neurology and dimorphic medicine (impact of sex and gender on health and diseases).

Dr. Rocca received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Padua, Italy, his Diploma of Specialty in Neurology from the University of Verona, Italy, his Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Johns Hopkins University and at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Rocca served on several expert panels for the National Institutes of Health and for other institutions nationally (Institute of Medicine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Defense) and internationally (national research agencies of France, Italy, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Spain).