Biography

John R. Absher, MD, FAAN, a full-time neurologist at Prisma Health, is Professor of Neurology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. He also holds faculty appointments as Clinical Associate Professor in the Clemson University School of Health Research and at the University of South Carolina - Columbia. Absher is Board Certified in Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, in Behavioral Neurology by the United Council of Neurological Subspecialties, and in Neuroimaging and Neurosonology by the American Society of Neuroimaging. Absher serves as a Medical Director for the University of South Carolina Brain Health, Director of the Dementia and Neurobehavior Assessment Clinic, and Director of the Structured Neuroimaging-Intensive Research Program, which he founded in 2018. Absher’s research has been supported by intramural and extramural awards, through which he pursues his neuroimaging research interests through a focus on research education, brain health, stroke and neurodegenerative diseases.

Absher serves as the Associate Director for both the Research Education Component Core (University of South Carolina) and the Clinical Core (Clemson University) for the South Carolina Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, a statewide initiative led by MUSC. He also directs the ADRC REC Dementia Seminar Series, which has provided monthly dementia case conferences since Jan. 4, 2018, and weekly seminars since Jan. 18, 2024. Absher serves as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Neurology – Applied Neuroimaging and as Section Editor for neurobehavior as part of the editorial board of the Journal of Neuroimaging. He has served the South Carolina Alzheimer’s Association as a board member for approximately 20 years. His service to the School of Medicine Greenville includes both leadership and teaching roles, including service as head of the Faculty Development Committee.

Absher received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Radford University in 1982, and his M.D. degree in 1986 from Virginia Commonwealth University. His postdoctoral training included an internship at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, neurology residency at the University of Iowa, and Neurobehavior fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. Following his fellowship, Absher became Assistant Professor of Neurology at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and earned joint appointments in both the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. While serving as Assistant Professor, he helped to establish both the multidisciplinary Dementia and Neurobehavior Clinic and Neurobehavior and Neuropsychiatry Clinic and completed a General Clinical Research Center Clinical Associate Physician development award.

Absher founded an academic private practice, Absher Neurology, PA, and also founded and led the Alliance for Neuro Research, LLC, before transitioning back into full-time academic practice with Prisma Health and the School of Medicine Greenville.