Rate My Professor Annie Hiniker

Annie Hiniker, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Pathology in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC), where she also serves as Director of the USC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) Neuropathology Core. She specializes in neuropathology. Hiniker earned her MD and PhD from the University of Michigan, graduating as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA). She completed her residency and fellowship in Anatomic Pathology and Neuropathology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Before joining USC in 2024, she was an Assistant Professor of Pathology and Co-Director of the ADRC Neuropathology Core at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Through her Hiniker Lab at USC, she provides expert neuropathology consultation services for neurodegenerative and other neurologic diseases.

Dr. Hiniker’s research employs classical neuropathology alongside cell biology, omics, and seeding assays to uncover molecular mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative conditions, emphasizing LRRK2-mediated neurodegeneration, protein aggregation involving tau, α-synuclein, and TDP-43, and LRRK2’s role in proteostasis. Key publications include “Early Alzheimer’s Disease with Frequent Neuritic Plaques Harbors Distinct Neocortical Tau Seeds” (Nature Communications, 2025), “Down Syndrome with Alzheimer’s Disease Brains Have Accelerated Iron Accumulation Promoting Aβ Aggregation” (Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 2025), “A Repeat Expansion in GOLGA8A is a Major Risk Factor for Atypical Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration” (Nature Genetics, 2026), and “The E3 Ligase TRIM1 Ubiquitinates LRRK2 and Controls Its Activity” (Journal of Cell Biology, 2022). She has received the AFAR Paul B. Beeson Award and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program Parkinson’s Disease Early Investigator Award, with funding from NINDS, the Epstein Family Foundation, Alzheimer’s Association, and American Parkinson’s Disease Association. Hiniker serves on the American Association of Neuropathologists (AANP) Education Committee, co-directs the AANP Neurodegenerative Scholars R13 program, and sits on the Editorial Board of Free Neuropathology. A member of AANP since 2010, her work advances understanding of neurodegeneration and informs therapeutic strategies.