Ms. Coats performs cognitive and neurological assessments of demented and non-demented elderly in a research setting. She provides information to professional and community groups about changes in cognition with age, and about disease states such as dementia of the Alzheimer type. Ms. Coats serves as a resource to research participants and their familiies, working to educate them about proper care of the demented elderly. She is the coordinator of various projects at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, such as a longitudinal cerebrovascular dementia study and clinical drug trials.

Medical Training

Ms. Coats received her Diploma in Nursing from Barnes Hospital School of Nursing in St. Louis, Missouri, and went on to complete BA and MS degrees in Nursing from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. In 1997 Ms. Coats was certified as a Clinical Specialist in Gerontological Nursing Advanced Practice Nurse by the State of Missouri.

Selected Publications

1998 Berg,L.,McKeel, D., Miller,JP.,Storandt, M., Rubin, E.,Morris, J.,Baty, J., Coats, M., Norton,J., Goate, A., Price, J., Gearing, M., Mirra, S., Saunders, Clinicopathologic Studies in Cognitively Healthy Aging and Alzheimer Disease, Archives of Neurology (55), 326-335.

1997 Morris,JC., Ernesto,MS., Schafer,K., Coats, M., Leon,S., Sano, M., Thal,LJ., Woodbury,P., and the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study. Clinical Dementia Rating training and reliability in muliticenter studies: the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study experience. Neurology (48):1508-1510.

1996 O'Connor,DW., Blessed,G., Cooper,B., Jonker,C., Morris,J.C., Presnell,IB., Ames,D., Kay,DWK., Bickel,H., Schaufele,M., Wind,A., Coats,M., Berg,L. Cross-national interrater reliability of dementia diagnosis in the elderly and factors associated with disagreement. Neurology (47) 1194-1199.

1994 Coats, M. & VanFleet, N., Multidisciplinary Care-Planning Issues, Handbook of Dementing Illnesses, ed. J. Morris, MD, New York: Marcel Dekker.

2004 Shah KR, Carr D, Roe CM, Miller JP, Coats M, Morris JC. Impaired physical performance and the assessment of dementia of the Alzheimer type.

2003 Buckles VD, Powlishta KK, Palmer JL, Coats M, Hosto T, Buckley A, Morris JC. Understanding of informed consent by demented individuals. Neurology 2003;61:1662-1666.

1998 Berg,L.,McKeel, D., Miller,JP.,Storandt, M., Rubin, E.,Morris, J.,Baty, J.,Coats, M., Norton,J., Goate, A., Price, J., Gearing, M., Mirra, S., Saunders, Clinicopathologic Studies in Cognitively Healthy Aging and Alzheimer Archives of Neurology (55), 326-335.

1997 Morris,JC., Ernesto,MS., Schafer,K., Coats, M., Leon,S., Sano, M., Thal,LJ.,Woodbury,P., and the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study. Clinical Dementia Rating training and reliability in muliticenter studies: the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study experience. Neurology (48):1508-1510.

1996 O'Connor,DW., Blessed,G., Cooper,B., Jonker,C., Morris,J.C., Presnell,IB., Ames,D., Kay,DWK., Bickel,H., Schaufele,M., Wind,A., Coats,M., Berg,L. Cross-national interrater reliability of dementia diagnosis in the elderly and factors associated with disagreement. Neurology (47) 1194-1199. 1989 McCulla, SM, Coats, MA, VanFleet, N. Nurse Reliability in the Assessment of Dementia, Archives of Neurology (43) 1110-1111.

In press:
2005 Snider, BJ, Norton J, Coats MA, Chakraverty, S, Hou CE, Jervis R, Lendon CL, Goate A, McKeel DW, Morris JC.; A novel presenilin 1 mutation (S170F) causing Alzheimer's disease with Lewy bodies in the third decade of life. In press Arch Neurol.

2005 Galvin JE, Roe, CM, Powlishta KK, Coats MA, Muich SJ, Grant E, Miller JP, Storandt M, Morris JC.; The AD8: A Brief Informant Interview to Detect Dementia.; In press Neurology (August 23, 2005)
To view all 2005 and 2006 publications, click here.