Kjetil Bjornevik

Biography

Dr. Kjetil Bjornevik is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where he directs the Neuroepidemiology Program and teaches EPI284 (Neuroepidemiology). As an epidemiologist, his research is driven by a fundamental goal: to transform how we approach neurodegenerative diseases by shifting from managing illness to preventing disease onset.

Dr. Bjornevik's research integrates three key elements: access to unique, large-scale, longitudinal cohorts with prospectively collected biological samples; application of advanced biomarker and multi-omics technologies to detect preclinical pathology; and novel epidemiological methods to identify causal relationships. His earlier work contributed to establishing the Epstein-Barr virus as the leading cause of multiple sclerosis, redirecting the field toward prevention and treatment strategies targeting the virus.

Since joining the Harvard Chan faculty in 2023, Dr. Bjornevik has been translating these discoveries into clinical solutions, playing a leading role in developing clinical trials testing antiviral drugs as potential multiple sclerosis treatments. His work spans multiple neurodegenerative diseases: for Parkinson's disease, he has contributed to developing a scalable screening strategy to identify high-risk individuals using simple non-motor symptom assessments and identifying promising candidates for disease-modifying therapies through drug-wide screening studies. For amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, his research has shown that the fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid is associated with both reduced disease risk and slower progression, providing a rationale for upcoming clinical trials.

A major current focus is expanding this research program to Alzheimer's disease, investigating how infectious agents and herpesviruses contribute to Alzheimer's disease pathology. His work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, European Commission, Michael J. Fox Foundation, and National MS Society, and has appeared in leading journals including Science, JAMA Neurology, Neurology, and Annals of Neurology.

Education and Training

• MD, Medicine
  University of Bergen
• PhD, Epidemiology
  University of Bergen

Publications

• Intake of Folate, Vitamin B6, and Vitamin B12 Before and After Disease Diagnosis and the Risk of Death in Individuals with Parkinson's Disease.

  Zhang X, Flores-Torres MH, Christine CW, Bjornevik K, Hung AY, Schwarzschild MA, Ascherio A. Mov Disord 2026 Jan 12

  PMID: 41524297

• A threshold in anti-EBNA-1 antibody titers distinguishes salivary EBV shedders from non-shedders.

  Mahler JV, Bilodeau PA, Anderson M, Mikami T, Bobrowski-Khoury N, Jiang M, Zhu H, Nguyen J, Matiello M, Levy M, Bjornevik K, Drosu N. J Infect Dis 2026 Jan 06

  PMID: 41493209

• Epigenetic ageing and the risk of Parkinson's disease.

  Peng X, Flores-Torres MH, Cortese M, Peng C, Hung AY, Schwarzschild M, Ascherio A, Bjornevik K. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2025 Dec 30

  PMID: 41469193

• Duration of Current Statin Use and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Risk: A Norwegian Population-Based Cohort Study.

  Nakken O, Vaage AM, Stigum H, Bjornevik K, Holmoy T, Meyer HE. Neurology 2025 Oct 21

  PMID: 41026994

• Plasma Metabolomics Profiles in Prodromal and Clinical Parkinson's Disease.

  Flores-Torres MH, Peng X, Jeanfavre S, Clish C, Wang Y, McCullough ML, Healy B, Schwarzschild MA, Bjornevik K, Ascherio A. Mov Disord 2025 Aug 13

  PMID: 40799161