C. Dirk Keene, MD, PhD

Clinical and Research Background

Dr. Keene received his education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology) and at the University of Minnesota (M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience). His Anatomic Pathology residency and Neuropathology fellowship were completed at the University of Washington (UW) where he earned a faculty position in Neuropathology after graduating. Dr. Keene is currently the Nancy and Buster Alvord Endowed Chair in Neuropathology, Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology and Neurological Surgery, Director of the Division of Neuropathology, and Associate Director of the UW Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Dr. Keene is the founding director of the Pacific Northwest Brain Donor Network and the UW BioRepository and Integrated Neuropathology (BRaIN) laboratory and leads the UW ADRC Precision Neuropathology Core.

Dr. Keene is Board Certified in Anatomic Pathology and Neuropathology and regularly attends on the UW Medicine surgical neuropathology and ophthalmic pathology services. He is the former Director and current Associate Director of the UW Neuropathology Fellowship and enjoys significant mentoring, teaching, and training opportunities. Dr. Keene strives to promote scientific advancement in human brain structure and function, aging, neurodegeneration, neurotrauma, and neurooncology through diagnostic and research neuropathology. Dr. Keene supervises a team of scientists, fellows, research coordinators, and histotechnologists who respectfully and expeditiously perform brain and other research tissue donations and studies in a manner that maximally and optimally preserves tissues for diverse applications. Dr. Keene energetically promotes tissue and data sharing, and facilitation of local and national research through collaborative and cooperative mechanisms. The goal of the BRaIN lab is to promote human neuroscience research to propel development of diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventative approaches for brain aging, injury, and disease.