About Healthy Brain Moments

Healthy Brain Moments are a series of one-minute interviews exploring how everyday choices can support long-term brain health and reduce the risk of dementia.

Read more about the presenters of this series.

Miia Kivipelto, MD, PhD, is a scientist and global leader in brain health, aging, and dementia prevention. In 2025, she joined the Yale School of Nursing (YSN) as the Rodman Family Endowed Professor of Gerontology and an inaugural director of YSN Center for Aging Well, with a secondary appointment at the Yale School of Medicine.

Dr. Kivipelto is best known for leading the landmark FINGER study, the first large clinical trial to show that dementia risk can be reduced through a combination of lifestyle changes—such as healthy diet, physical activity, cognitive training, and cardiovascular risk management. Her work helped shift the field away from the idea that cognitive decline is an inevitable part of aging. She also developed the CAIDE dementia risk score, now used worldwide to identify people at higher risk for cognitive decline years before symptoms appear. Building on this work, she founded the World-Wide FINGERS Network, which now spans more than 73 countries and supports global collaboration on dementia prevention.

Currently, Dr. Kivipelto is leading an implementation study in partnership with YSN faculty and LiveWell (resource and activities as well as residential care center for people with memory loss) in Southington, Connecticut, translating proven dementia risk-reduction strategies into real-world care.

Prior to Yale, Dr. Kivipelto served as Professor of Clinical Geriatrics at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and led major research programs at Karolinska University Hospital, while collaborating internationally with teams across Europe and the UK. She has authored more than 400 scientific publications and is among the most cited researchers in her field. Her research and leadership have been recognized with numerous international honors, including the Melvin R. Goodes Prize and the Ryman Prize, among others. At Yale, Dr. Kivipelto is focused on advancing precision approaches to healthy aging—helping people maintain cognitive health and independence across the lifespan.