REGENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
Biography
Aisha joins the Department as the new clinical research coordinator at the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research at UCLA. Aisha received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of San Francisco with minors in Neuroscience, Health Studies, and Business Entrepreneurship & Innovation. During her undergraduate studies, she worked for Neuroscape at the University of California, San Francisco where she focused on projects surrounding cognitive training and assessments for adolescents. Before joining the Easton Center, she also interned at the University of Pennsylvania where she focused on topics of social interaction and neuroeconomics. Aisha is excited to contribute to the mission of the UCLA Easton Center.
Alana Andino, RN, BSN, is a Triage Registered Nurse for the Integrated Memory Clinics, a collaboration between Neurology, Geriatric Medicine, and Geriatric Psychiatry. Alana received her Bachelor of Nursing degree from Mount Saint Mary's College. After graduating, Alana worked at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in the Neuroscience/Stroke Unit. Alana is very excited to contribute her love of nursing to the patients, families, and caregivers of the UCLA Easton Center, Geriatric Medicine, and Geriatric Psychiatry.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurology and Geriatric Medicine Division
Biography
Anne has her bachelor's degree in both neuroscience and psychology from Boston University. She previously studied tauopathy and vasculature in chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at the Boston University CTE Center. Anne is excited to be continuing her career in neurodegenerative research in the Vossel Lab and Easton Center.
Job Titles:
- Certified Genetic Counselor
- Genetic Counselor
is a bilingual (Spanish and English) board-certified genetic counselor with experience providing services to diverse patient populations in various clinical areas and work settings. Ariadna began her genetic counseling career as a prenatal genetic counselor at UCLA-Olive View Medical Center. Ariadna then worked at UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute as a genetic counselor and research coordinator for genetic studies working with parents of deaf/hard of hearing children as well as deaf/hard of hearing adults. Ariadna then spent several years as a clinical genetic counselor and study manager at UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute with a focus on inherited retinal conditions. Ariadna subsequently joined the cardiogenetics program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, serving individuals and families with various inherited cardiovascular conditions. Ariadna transitioned to working in industry, initially at Ambry Genetics, working on variant interpretation and report writing. Ariadna then joined Invitae Corporation, where she provided clinical support to ordering providers throughout the genetic testing process, telehealth post-test genetic counseling in multiple clinical areas, including neurodegenerative conditions, and led the Genetic Counseling Services Ophthalmology/Deafness subteam. Ariadna is licensed in several states, including California, and is a member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, Minority Genetics Professional Network, Southern California Genetic Counselors. Ariadna has a Master's Degree in Human Genetics from UCLA and a Master's Degree in Genetic Counseling from California State University, Northridge.
Dr. Jagodzinska is an author of over 20 publications and issued or pending patents on compounds and analogs for CNS-related targets.
Job Titles:
- Staff Research Associate III
Biography
Brittany obtained her doctorate in Neuroscience from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her B.S. in Biology from Dillard University in New Orleans, where she was a Samuel DuBois Cook Scholar. Her current research goal is to understand how mutations in Tau impact protein interactions, neuronal firing, and network dynamics within the brain.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor
- Associate
Bruce Teter received a B.S. in marine biology and a minor in chemistry from Cal. State U., Long Beach in 1982. Dr. Teter received a Ph.D. degree in molecular biology from the University of Southern California in 1991 studying DNA structure in control of protein binding and gene expression. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neurogerontology focusing on epigenetic control of gene expression changes with aging, working with Dr. Caleb Finch at the Andrus Gerontology Center in the School of Gerontology at USC. In 1996 he joined the lab of Dr. Greg Cole at UCLA and is currently Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology, and Chief of the ApoE Research Laboratory, and Research Associate at GRECC, Veterans Administration, GLAHS.
Job Titles:
- Lecturer and Visiting Professor, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard, 2016
Job Titles:
- Associate Project Scientist
Job Titles:
- Head of the Neuronuclear Imaging Section of the Ahmanson Translational Imaging Division
- Professor
Daniel H. Silverman, M.D., Ph.D., is Head of the Neuronuclear Imaging Section of the Ahmanson Translational Imaging Division at UCLA Medical Center, on the Executive Committee of the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, and a Professor in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, University of California, Los Angeles. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at Harvard University, and postdoctoral research training in Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. He obtained his M.D. from The Ohio State University College of Medicine, subsequently completed post-M.D. training at UCLA, and then obtained certification from both the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Nuclear Medicine.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Neurology ( Emeritus )
David Teplow received B.A. degrees in Biochemistry (1974) and in Bacteriology and Immunology (1975) at the University of California at Berkeley. He did graduate work in Tumor and Molecular Immunology at the University of Washington, where he received his M.S. (1977) and Ph.D. (1981) degrees. His graduate work, which involved protein chemical studies of cell surface receptors, led him to Caltech in Pasadena, where he worked first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a junior faculty member to develop highly sensitive methods for protein primary structure analysis and to apply these new methods to the study of proteins in the nervous system. From 1991 through 2004, Dr. Teplow was a faculty member in the Departments of Neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he established a research program to understand the structural biology of the amyloid beta-protein (Abeta) and its contribution to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Dr. Teplow joined the faculty at UCLA in 2005, where he currently is a Professor in Residence in the Department of Neurology, a member of the Molecular Biology Institute and the Brain Research Institute, and the Director of the Biopolymer Laboratory at UCLA. Dr. Teplow is a leader in the areas of the structural biology of amyloid proteins and the biophysics of amyloid assembly. The Teplow laboratory seeks to understand and treat neurodegenerative disorders linked to pathologic protein folding. In AD, Abeta; self-associates to form a variety of oligomeric and polymeric structures with potent neurotoxic activities. Abeta; oligomers have been found in vivo in AD patients and may be the proximate neurotoxins in the disease. To understand how the nascent Abeta; monomer folds and assembles into neurotoxic forms, Dr. Teplow has employed an interdisciplinary strategy comprising in vivo, in vitro, in vacuo, and in silico approaches. The long-term goal is to discover the key factors controlling production of neurotoxic assemblies and then to target these factors in strategies for drug development. Dr. Teplow has published 140 peer-reviewed articles, including 100 original articles and 40 reviews, book chapters, and commentaries. Dr. Teplow was a founding editorial board member of the Journal of Molecular Neuroscience and currently sits on the editorial boards of The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Amyloid: The Journal of Protein Folding Disorders, Current Chemical Biology, and The Yemeni Journal of Science.
is currently a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry, as well as an HHMI Investigator and Director of the UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics. Before he came to UCLA, Eisenberg earned an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College and a D.Phil. from Oxford University in Theoretical Chemistry on a Rhodes Scholarship. After a postdoctoral study at Princeton University on water and hydrogen bonding and at Caltech on protein crystallography, he joined the faculty at UCLA. Currently, he studies protein interactions by X-ray crystallography, bioinformatics, and biochemistry, emphasizing amyloid-forming proteins. This recently recognized protein state offers opportunities to understand cells in health and disease, synthesize new materials, and understand processes as diverse as biofilms and corrosion. Eisenberg has published over 300 papers and reviews and holds half a dozen patents. His awards include: the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, the UCLA Faculty Research Lectureship, the Stein and Moore Award of the Protein Society, the ACS Faculty Mentoring Award, and membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine.
David Eisenberg focuses on protein interactions. In his experiments he studies the structural basis for conversion of normal proteins to the amyloid state and conversion of prions to the infectious state. In bioinformatic work, he derives information on protein interactions from genomic and proteomic data. His goal is to learn the networks of interacting proteins in cells.
Education and Degrees
Ph.D., Oxford University, 1964
Job Titles:
- Alzheimer Research Laboratory
- Professor in Residence
- Professor of Medicine and Neurology at UCLA
Dr. Greg M. Cole is currently a Professor of Medicine and Neurology at UCLA, where he is also the Associate Director of the UCLA Alzheimer's Center and Associate Director for Research at the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center for the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Administration System. After receiving undergraduate degrees in Physics and Biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley and working in an immunology lab at Harvard Medical School, he returned to Berkeley for doctoral work on Alzheimer's and aging (under Professor emeritus Paola Timiras) and then moved to San Diego for postdoctoral work on Alzheimer's at UCSD. His work over the last two decades has been centered on the production and role of beta-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease. Based in part on a series of screens in pre-clinical models, three compounds, R-flurbiprofen, curcumin, and DHA, are already in or under serious consideration for clinical trials. His recent papers investigate the potential for AD prevention with omega 3 fatty acid (DHA, docosahexaenoic acid from fish) and the curry spice extract, curcumin, to control inflammation and oxidative damage and act directly on insoluble amyloid fibrils in plaques and more soluble toxic species in vitro and in vivo. They also explore the role of omega 3, and other dietary fatty acids control the neuroprotective PI3-kinase>Akt pathway, synaptic protein loss, amyloid, and cognitive deficits. Other recent contributions include the co-development of amyloid and tangle PET imaging probes with UCLA colleagues. Much of his work is based on analyzing environmental risk factors, notably NSAIDs, fats and antioxidants, and other anti-amyloid agents for efficacy in animal models for the disease. The primary goal of his lab is to develop safe and widely available methods for the prevention of Alzheimer's and possibly other degenerative diseases of aging.
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine ( Emeritus )
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Neurology
- Health Services Researcher at UCLA
Dr. Jennifer Adrissi is a movement disorders neurologist and health services researcher at UCLA dedicated to improving patient outcomes and access disparities in Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Dr. Adrissi received her bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park in Physiology and Neurobiology and her M.D. from Northwestern University. She completed her Neurology residency and Movement Disorders fellowship at Northwestern University. During her fellowship training, she also received her Master of Science degree in Clinical Research from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). As a fellow, she was accepted into the competitive American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Training in Research for Academic Neurologists to Sustain Careers and Enhance the Numbers of Diverse Scholars (TRANSCENDS) Program and was an NIH Neuro-NEXT fellow for clinical trial development.
Dr. Adrissi is currently dual-appointed as Assistant Professor of Neurology and Internal Medicine (Health Services Research). Her clinical expertise focuses on movement disorders, particularly Parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonism syndromes such as multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal syndrome, and Lewy body dementia. Her research interests include the use of community based participatory research methods to develop community-partnered interventions to improve access to specialized care and clinical trials in Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders within the Black community and other historically marginalized communities.
Job Titles:
- Director, Alzheimer 's Disease Research Center - Biomarkers in Neurodegenerative Diseases ( ADRC - BIND )
Job Titles:
- Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurology
Dr. Leila Parand is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurology. Dr. Parand is a fellowship-trained behavioral neurologist with research experience in genetics, neuropathology, and neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia. She provides care in the UCLA Memory Clinic and clinical research expertise in the Kagan Clinical Trials Program. Dr. Parand has an important role in the UCLA Easton Center, bringing her unique talents to the areas of patient care, teaching, and innovative clinical trials.
Job Titles:
- Primary Care Champion for the Dementia Screening Project
Job Titles:
- Honorary Lecturer, Brown University, 2023
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Department of Neurology
Job Titles:
- Interim Co - Center Director
Job Titles:
- Interim Co - Center Director
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Principal Statistician
Jenny Brook has been working as a Principal Statistician at UCLA since 2000. Over the years, she has taken an integral part in helping others with their research, both hands-on and as part of theoretical support. Jenny has worked on various projects, offering statistical expertise to both faculty and graduate students.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Neurology
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
Jessica graduated from UCLA in 2020 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. As an undergraduate student, she volunteered and worked in an education and psychology lab, an addictions lab, and a geriatrics lab. After graduating, Jessica gained valuable research experience working with Dr. Mario Mendez, where she helped manage two research projects investigating Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. She's passionate about clinical research and advancing treatments and diagnosis for diseases such as Alzheimer's. Jessica is excited to join the Kagan Clinical Trials Program at the UCLA Easton Center.
Job Titles:
- Neuroscience Research Building, Room 475B
- Principal Investigator, Jiang Laboratory
Biography
Jiang started his journey in science when he went to Peking University, where he earned a B.S. degree in Chemistry and an M.S. degree in Physical Chemistry with Distinction. He did research in protein interactions with Luhua Lai at Peking University and found his passion for structure-based protein modeling and drug design research. He then went to the University of Washington for Ph.D. in Biochemical Science. There he worked on enzyme design in the laboratory of David Baker, using computational and experimental methods to engineer protein catalysts for those chemical transformations that naturally occurring enzymes cannot catalyze. After completing his Ph.D. work, he pursued postdoctoral training with David Eisenberg at UCLA, applying his computational methods to develop new therapeutics for protein aggregation diseases. He joined the UCLA faculty in 2015 and is currently an Assistant Professor in Residence of Neurology.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
Biography
Karen Elrayes graduated from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology. Her passions are medicine and music, as well as their intersection. She enjoys playing the flute to memory care patients as a form of music therapy. As an undergraduate student, Karen worked under Dr. Chloe Boyle as a Research Assistant in two studies: 1) Clinical Studies of Sleep and Healthy Aging Research on Depression for Younger Women and 2) Aging and Reward System Response to Inflammation and Anxiety (ARIA). She looks forward to joining the Vossel Lab team and doing her part in contributing to Alzheimer's research.
Karina Muñoz received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from California State University, Northridge, in 2019. As an undergrad student, she volunteered to assist underrepresented students in acknowledging their oppression and daily struggles through art. Karina was also a caregiver for her grandmother, who instilled the values of compassion, empathy, and courage. After graduation, she worked with children in a subacute setting providing emotional support and a sense of safety. This is where she discovered her passion for advocating for those less fortunate and disadvantaged. Karina then went on to become a pediatric and geriatric social worker for patients dealing with respiratory issues and supporting patients in acclimating to their new lifestyle. Karina is driven to provide aid to patients while establishing connections with their families; therefore, she is excited to contribute to the mission of Olive View-UCLA Medical Center.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
Biography
Katy graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in Computational Neuroscience with a minor in Computer Programming in 2022. As an undergraduate, she joined a lab examining the relationship between roundworm movement and Parkinsonian speech. Recently, she worked in a lab where she analyzed relationships between exercise, diet, and cognition in patients with Parkinson's disease. She is interested in healthcare accessibility in underserved communities of color. Katy is excited to contribute to Alzheimer's disease research in the Vossel Lab at the UCLA Easton Center.
Kelsey Stander graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. Degree in Public Health in 2011. She continued her education at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in Boston, where she earned a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing and a Master's of Science in Nursing as an Adult and Geriatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner. She worked as a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner in various settings, firstly with Commonwealth Care Alliance in Boston, providing primary care to homebound frail elders in the community, and then in both the clinic and home setting for Mount Sinai Geriatrics in New York City. Kelsey's interest in dementia and memory disorders lead her to pursue a career as a Nurse Practitioner with the UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Program and then to transition to her current role as a Nurse Practitioner in the UCLA Neurology Memory Clinic.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Assistant Professor of Neurology
Kevin Bickart, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Neurology specializing in behavioral and sports neurology as part of UCLA's BrainSPORT and Neurobehavior programs. He completed his MD/PhD in anatomy and neurobiology from Boston University School of Medicine, post-doc at Northeastern and Harvard Universities, residency in neurology at Stanford, and dual fellowship in behavioral and sports neurology at UCLA. Dr. Bickart was the first to identify neuroimaging correlates of social network size in humans, among his other findings published in high impact journals, such as Nature Neuroscience and The Journal of Neuroscience. He trained under well-known and inspiring mentors, including Lisa Feldman Barrett at Northeastern, Brad Dickerson at Harvard, Mike Greicius at Stanford, and more recently Mario Mendez and Chris Giza at UCLA. Overall, Dr. Bickart's research focuses on the brain networks that underlie affective and social behavior as it normally develops and degrades with brain injury and neurodegenerative conditions. His work crosses multiple levels of analysis from genetics and brain imaging to affective behavior and real-world social networks. Dr. Bickart's future work will combine his expertise in brain mapping with noninvasive neuromodulation to develop individualized treatments for chronic affective and social symptoms related to traumatic brain injury and frontal lobe dementias.
Job Titles:
- Senior Scientist
- Senior Scientist, Vossel Lab, Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer 's Research and Care at UCLA, Neurology, DGSOM at UCLA
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Education and Degrees
- Health Analyst in Dr. Tim Chang
- National Researcher in Medical Sciences Associated With the National Center of Blood Transfusion
is a Health Analyst in Dr. Tim Chang's lab. Leopoldo started his career in Mexico City, where he was a national researcher in medical sciences associated with the National Center of Blood Transfusion, the Center of Complexity Sciences at the National University, and statistical manager in the Center of Biopharmaceutical Studies. He was recognized as a national expert in statistical analysis of bioequivalence studies by the Federal Commission for Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS), which is the regulatory body for healthcare in Mexico, equivalent to the FDA. More recently, he worked for Thermo Fisher Scientific and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center focused on bioinformatic tools to study the HLA complex, the intestinal microbiome, and multiple pipelines for cancer detection. Leopoldo has various hobbies and passions in addition to genomics sciences, and he enjoys working in the context of an innovative and challenging research group, which has certainly found in the Mary S. Easton Center at UCLA.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor in Residence of Neurology
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Research Psychologist and Rater
Job Titles:
- Health Sciences Assistant Professor of Neurology
Lucas Restrepo obtained his MD degree from the Health Science Institute in Colombia, South America in 1993, completing his neurology residency at Georgetown University in 2000 and a stroke fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital with Robert J. Wityk in 2002. He has earned several academic awards, including "intern of the year" at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio in 1996 and being named "neurology attending of the year" by the UCLA neurology residents in 2006 and 2010. He earned a PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology at Arizona State University in 2011 under the mentoring of Stephen Albert Johnston. Dr. Restrepo has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers, some with relevant impact. Two of his papers about advanced MRI techniques and transcranial Doppler ultrasound for the evaluation of the pathophysiology of brain ischemia were selected as "best paper (s) published in the Journal of Neuroimaging" for 2 consecutive years (2003 and 2004). Dr. Restrepo is co-inventor of several cooling devices for neuroprotection and helped develop a blood test for Alzheimer's Disease. He is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Job Titles:
- Professor in Residence of Neurology and Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences
Mario F. Mendez, MD, PhD is a behavioral neurologist with extensive publications in the area of cognition and neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Mendez is the Director of Neurobehavior at the VA Greater Los Angeles and a Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at UCLA. He also directs the UCLA Frontotemporal Dementia & Neurobehavior Clinic.
Dr. Mendez is trained and licensed in the areas of internal medicine, neurology, neurobehavior, and experimental psychology. He is a member and on the board of several of scientific professional organizations. Currently, he is on the Medical Advisory Board of the Association for Frontotemporal Dementia and a member of the NIH committee working on the improvement of the clinical criteria for FTD and related syndromes.
His area of research is the clinical aspects of frontotemporal dementia, progressive aphasia, posterior cortical atrophy, and other focal cortical degenerative conditions. He is a well-published author with over 200 publications which include peer review articles, books, and chapters.
Job Titles:
- Cinical Research Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Health Sciences Associate Clinician of Neurology
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
Lee GJ, Lu PH, Thompson PM, Mendez MF. Performance on proverbs test is associated with left anterior temporal volume in patients with behavioral FTD and early-onset Alzheimer's disease. International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementias, Manchester, England, UK, 2012.
Job Titles:
- President, J.D. French Alzheimer 's Foundation Endowed Chair
Dr. Keith Vossel is the Michael M. Minchin, Jr., President, J.D. French Alzheimer's Foundation Endowed Chair, Professor of Neurology, and Director of the Katherine and Benjamin Kagan Alzheimer's Disease Treatment Development Program in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He leads a comprehensive Center incorporating outreach and engagement to diverse communities, electronic health records, social determinants of health, neuroimaging, neurophysiology, genetics, preclinical and clinical trials, and clinical care to develop new therapies for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and achieve equity in recognition and care of dementia.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor in Residence of Neurology
Job Titles:
- Community Health Program Manager
Job Titles:
- Senior Public Administrative Analyst
Job Titles:
- Patient Coordinator
- Patient Information Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Director, Eisenberg Laboratory
Job Titles:
- Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Job Titles:
- Clinical Trial Physician, and PI
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Professor in Residence of Neurology
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Neuropathology
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the Director
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Associate
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Research Nurse Practitioner
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Neurology
Job Titles:
- Visiting Professor, University of Texas, Houston, 2023