For more than 50 years, Ron Petersen has studied healthy aging, cognition and dementia. Petersen’s research established the concept of mild cognitive impairment, which lies between healthy cognitive aging and dementia. This idea changed how doctors and scientists study cognitive health by emphasizing earlier detection and lifestyle changes. Petersen has co-written over 1,500 peer-reviewed articles and works full-time in clinical research as the director of the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, where he also sees patients.
