# USC researchers publish an Alzheimer's model built for missing scans

> Source: <https://runtimewire.com/article/usc-memoir-vlm-alzheimers-missing-scans>
> Published: 2026-10-11 06:26:25+00:00

# USC researchers publish an Alzheimer's model built for missing scans

**MEMOIR-VLM combines MRI, diffusion imaging and clinical scores, but its strongest diagnostic signal came from cognitive tests.**

        By [Ryan Merket](https://runtimewire.com/author/ryan-merket)
        · Published 

Primary source: [X](https://x.com/TamoghnaChatto2/status/2107564670592913807)

## Why it matters

MEMOIR-VLM tests whether one model can handle the incomplete scans common in practice. Its own results show the limit of the pitch: cognitive scores drive most diagnostic performance, and the language model did not beat nearest-neighbor retrieval.

[Tamoghna Chattopadhyay (@TamoghnaChatto2)](https://x.com/TamoghnaChatto2) and colleagues at the University of Southern California published MEMOIR-VLM on October 1st, a research model designed to classify Alzheimer's disease using whatever combination of brain scans and clinical data is available. The paper's headline result was 91.3% balanced accuracy distinguishing cognitively normal people from people with dementia on held-out research data. Its three-category accuracy, including mild cognitive impairment, was 68.2%.…