Dr. Jankowsky obtained her undergraduate degree in biology from Amherst College in Massachusetts, followed by her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience from Caltech. In 2000, she moved to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for postdoctoral training in neuropathology, where she first began working on Alzheimer's disease. She returned to Caltech as a Senior Research Fellow, before starting her own laboratory at Baylor College of Medicine in 2008 where her laboratory focuses on the biology of Alzheimer’s. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the NARSAD Young Investigator Award, the NIH Director's New Innovator Award, and most recently the Alzheimer's Association Zenith Fellows Award. Her current work examines three basic questions about Alzheimer's pathogenesis: How does aging increase risk of disease? How do genetics influence this risk? And what makes particular brain areas susceptible to degeneration while others are spared? Outside of the laboratory, she volunteers with the Houston greyhound rescue group to help find homes for retired racers.