Sheila A. Alexander

Dr. Alexander has a research trajectory focused on identifying genetic, proteomic. and other markers of brain recovery in the critically ill patient. Her earliest work showed that patients with the Apolipoprotein E 4 allele had slower recovery from severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Since then she has made advancements to the understanding of the brain’s response to aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage and Delirium in the general Intensive Care Unit (ICU) population in the acute phase and long term recovery. Her work in was the first to show sustained inflammatory markers as a biomarker of ICU delirium.

She serves as a faculty member for the Pitt School of Nursing T32 Training grant in genetics and genomics. Doctoral students working with Dr. Alexander have tested interventions to improve outcomes after severe traumatic brain injury in human and animal models, genetic variants of recovery from aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage and other critical care topics. Her expertise has been recognized internationally as she served as editor for the first American Association of Neuroscience Nurses Clinical Practice Guideline for Care of the Patient with Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, editor and author of a book entitled “Evidence-Based Nursing Care for Stroke and Neurovascular Conditions”, an invited author for book chapters and review manuscripts on the topics of genetics, genomics, and neurologic disease.