C. Dirk Keene

Dr. Keene grew up in the desert southwest, received his education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology) and the University of Minnesota (M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience). His post-graduate medical training in combined Anatomic Pathology residency and Neuropathology fellowship (AP/NP) was at the University of Washington (UW) where he earned a faculty position in Neuropathology in 2009. Dr. Keene progressed at UW to become Professor and Nancy and Buster Alvord Chair in Neuropathology. In addition to his clinical neuropathology practice, he founded and directed the UW BioRepository and Integrated Neuropathology (BRaIN) lab and the Pacific Northwest Brain Donor Network, which supported major research efforts to develop reference cell and circuit atlases of human brain in the BRAIN Initiative in addition to major studies in age-related dementias, traumatic brain injury, and neurooncology. These and many other research studies were performed in collaboration with the Allen Institute for Brain Science, where Dr. Keene led efforts to modernize research neuropathology optimized for multimodal multiomic single cell and spatial platforms. He has co-authored over 400 peer-reviewed publications, serves on multiple national advisory boards, NIH workshops and consensus panels, and is principal investigator (PI), co-PI, or co-I on multiple large projects. In 2026, Dr. Keene moved to University of California San Diego to become Chair of the Department of Pathology and director of the Neuropathology and Tissue Coordinating Center for the Allen Institute Brain Health Accelerator, a massive undertaking to understand and develop diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases in addition to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The primary goals for Dr. Keene’s research lab are to develop, deploy, and promote technologies that accentuate the scientific utility of archived and prospectively acquired human brain tissue, to utilize discoveries derived from these critical resources to develop and test hypotheses in experimental systems, and to apply this knowledge to develop therapeutic strategies.