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MAC  Join the Team |
Staff
Research Coordinators
Links to the PubMed search engine may pull up articles written by other authors. 
Katie Adams graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2008 with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Neuroscience and Behavior. While studying at Santa Cruz, Katie worked in the Biology Department as a research assistant investigating the feeding and diet profiles of elephant seals as well as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate infectious diseases course. After graduating, Katie joined the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Student Association as their historian. She also volunteered at the UCSF Medical Center’s Patient Relations department and at the Memory and Aging Center. Katie joined the UCSF Memory and Aging Center's clinical trials team in May of 2009. Katie is the primary study coordinator on several Alzheimer's disease treatment trials, including an oral antagonist Phase II trial, an oral anti-aggregation agent Phase II trial, and a Phase II trial consisting of an infusion of monoclonal antibodies against beta-amyloid. These interventional clinical trials aim to find effective treatments for patients with Alzheimer's disease, something which has grown increasingly important and necessary in today's society. In her free time, Katie loves to explore San Francisco and backpack in other cities around the world.
Oscar was born in Mexico and moved to Colorado at the age of eight, where he resided until he left for college. He attended Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Anthropology in 2006. While in school, Oscar became involved with a longitudinal research project focusing on the economic, social and cultural influences of health and healthcare in central Mexico. After graduating, Oscar worked for almost two years with Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University, looking at treatment adherence and health disparities of Latino, African American asthmatic children. He arrived at the Memory and Aging Center in the winter of 2008, and since then has been coordinating Dr. Rosen's emotions research. The emotions research ranges from dementia patient's insight into their cognitive abilities to presenting cognitive tasks that evoke measurable physiological reactions.
Kelly Creighton completed her Bachelor of Arts at Stony Brook University in 2005. Kelly was involved in behavioral medicine research in New York, first with a project examining the coping patterns of chronic pain patients and later with a study of the physiological and psychological risk factors of masked hypertension. Kelly joined the dynamic team at the Memory and Aging Center (MAC) in 2007 to pursue her interest in aging studies and end-of-life care. As coordinator of the Autopsy Program, she educates patients and families involved in the MAC clinic and research. Kelly helps families plan for autopsy and coordinates the autopsy process at the time of passing. She maintains a profound respect for those who choose to make this invaluable contribution to further knowledge of the mechanisms of healthy aging and neurodegenerative disease. In her time away from the MAC, Kelly is a classically-trained pianist, experimental cook and beach lover.
Stathis Gennatas joined the Seeley Selective Vulnerability Research Lab in the fall of 2008 as an Assistant Specialist to work on neuroimaging. He graduated from medical school at Imperial College London in June of 2008 with MBBS and BSc degrees in Psychology and Psychiatry.
Jon Gooblar graduated from McGill University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and minors in Political Science and Behavioral Science. As an undergraduate, he was a research assistant investigating the vulnerability to depression among adolescents in Montreal, Canada. Before joining the Memory and Aging Center in March 2008, Jon coordinated a study examining stress and depression among high school students in Beijing, China. Jon currently coordinates the Aging Brain project, which examines cognitive change associated with vascular risk factors, and PREDICT-HD, which is concerned with predictors of Huntington's Disease onset. In his spare time, Jon enjoys cooking and exploring the Bay Area for great restaurants.
Matthew Growdon graduated from Harvard University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Literature. While at Harvard, he coupled his interest in medical history and modernist literature with coursework in the life sciences and social epidemiology. Matthew joined the Memory and Aging Center in September 2007. His position involves coordinating visits for the longitudinal program project grant investigating frontotemporal dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia: Genes, Images and Emotions, and conducting neuropsychological testing with research subjects. He is especially fascinated by the unique creativity seen in the FTD population and hopes to bring his longtime interests in the humanities to bear on his work at the MAC. Matthew is a classically trained singer and enjoys exploring San Francisco and hiking in the greater Bay Area.
Jessica Hall graduated from UC Berkeley in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. While studying at Berkeley, Jessica volunteered her time as a research assistant in the Personality Psychology Lab and worked on a psychophysiological research study for the Relationships and Social Cognition Lab. After graduating, Jessica worked at the UCSD Liver Center for over a year as a clinical research coordinator for Hepatitis C treatment trials. Jessica specialized in coordinating Phase III and Phase IV treatment studies for patients who had not received treatment for their Hepatitis C. Jessica joined the UCSF Memory and Aging Center's clinical trials team in October of 2007. Jessica is the primary study coordinator on several Alzheimer's Disease treatment trials, including a Phase III trial consisting of an infusion of monoclonal antibodies against beta-amyloid and a Phase II vaccine trial that targets the beta-amyloid protein. These interventional clinical trials aim to find effective treatments for patients with Alzheimer's Disease, something which has grown increasingly important and necessary in today's society.
Kari Haws graduated from UC Berkeley in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Prior to completing her education, she worked in the Robertson Cognitive Neuropsychology lab at Berkeley investigating visual attention in normal subjects and patients with hemispatial neglect. She also volunteered at the National Brain Tumor Foundation as a Patient Services volunteer where she provided resources to brain tumor patients and their families. Kari joined the Memory and Aging Center in July 2006 to pursue her interest in neuropsychology and related fields. Her primary role is managing the New Approaches to Dementia Heterogeneity grant, which follows patients for five years with the goal of learning more about dementia to improve early detection and clinical care for patients with dementia. Additionally, she conducts cognitive testing with clinic patients, gathers MRI data on participants at the Neuroscience Imaging Center and assists in the validation of new diagnostic criteria for dementia.
Anna Karydas graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts, Conceptual Information Arts from San Francisco State University. She joined the Memory and Aging Center to support research activities investigating genetic causes of neurodegenerative diseases. She manages our genetic samples and genetic collaborations.
Ngan Betty Lai received her BA in Molecular and Cell Biology with a minor in Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. She previously interned for a summer at the UCSF Fresno Alzheimer’s and Memory Center in both the clinical setting and autopsy lab. Prior to joining the MAC, she worked as a medical assistant, health coach and Cantonese interpreter at Asian Health Services, a non-profit community health center, that provides medical care and advocates for the underserved Asian and Pacific Islander population in Alameda County. In Spring of 2008, she joined the UCSF Memory and Aging Center as a Research Coordinator to pursue her interest in furthering health-related research on Asian American populations. Her primary role is coordinating a research study that focuses on understanding dementia in Chinese individuals. She also bilingually conducts cognitive tests on both research and clinical patients at the MAC. Currently, she participates in the ADRC Chinese Outreach Program and the Healthy Aging Project.
Victor Laluz graduated from UC Davis in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychobiology and a minor in Japanese. While at UC Davis, he worked at the UC Davis Medical Center's MIND Institute, analyzing MRI scans to study morphological changes to the limbic and ventricular systems in children with velocardiofacial syndrome. Victor joined the Memory and Aging Center in November 2007 to continue work in neuroimaging. His primary role is to coordinate the analysis of MRI scans across several projects at the MAC by developing the procedures required to study specific brain regions, training other research coordinators in these procedures, and managing the data generated by these analyses. Victor also has a deep interest in Japanese culture and enjoys translating Japanese fiction and music into English.
Jacob graduated with a BA from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut as a double major in neuroscience as well as biology. Jacob then received his MA from Wesleyan by continuing his undergraduate research on cell death in a mouse model of epilepsy. After deciding to move to the West Coast, Jacob drove across the country and began work in the Memory and Aging Center with Dr. Adam Boxer. As Dr. Boxer’s research associate, Jacob coordinates and conducts a study on eye movements and their ability to shed light on the normal aging process. The goal of the research is to develop quick, easy and effective tasks for identifying the early stages of cognitive decline.
Robert Nicholson graduated from University of California, Davis in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. While at UC Davis, he worked as a research coordinator for a United States Air Force Reserve - 349th Aeromedical Staging Squadron. In 2007 Robert joined the UCSF Memory and Aging Center (MAC) as a research assistant on the study entitled Frontotemporal Dementia: Genes, Images and Emotions. Since joining the MAC, he has collaborated with several other projects: New Approaches to Dementia Heterogeneity, Cognitive Health and Brain Vulnerability in Aging Insulin Resistant Patients, Epileptiform Activity in Neurodegenerative Disease, Phase II Alzheimer's disease clinical trial, and the Latino Memory Clinic. Robert now works for the MAC's clinical trials team. Robert is the primary study coordinator on Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia treatment trials, including an oral antagonist Phase III trial and an oral antagonist Phase IV trial.
Pardis Poorzand moved to the United States from Canada after finishing high school. She graduated from University of California, Davis in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in genetics. While at UC Davis, she worked at a DNA sequencing lab and became involved in research at the pulmonary/critical care lab. After a year of research on a novel gene at the pulmonary lab with a graduate student, she completed her honor thesis during her last quarter at UC Davis. Pardis joined the Memory and Aging Center at UCSF in the spring of 2008. She is part of Dr. Kate Rankin's Neuroanatomy of Altered Social Behavior in Neurodegenerative Disease project, which focuses on patients with frontotemporal dementia. Pardis enjoys being an active member of her community, such as volunteering at the local YMCA, where she has been involved since 2004. She has a passion for painting and enjoys doing yoga on her spare time.
Benjamin Raudabaugh received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and Marketing from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 2002. Prior to joining the Memory and Aging Center in January 2005, Benjamin worked in a variety of fields, including pharmaceuticals public relations, international marketing and trade development, and retail financial analysis. Benjamin conducts neuropsychological testing with research and clinical patients. Benjamin has presented research results at the American Academy of Neurology and International Neuropsychological Society Annual Meetings.
Taylor Rigby graduated from San Francisco State University in May of 2009 with a bachelor of arts in both psychological research and comparative world literature. As an undergraduate, Taylor worked as the founding lab manager in the Action and Consciousness Neuroscience Laboratory at SFSU from fall 2007 until summer 2009. Her research and honors thesis focused mainly on conflict states and how they influence motor control. Taylor joined the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in September of 2009. She is currently working on a longitudinal study exploring cognitive decline in healthy aging. In the future, she intends to pursue a PhD and career in research.
Eric Sullivan, a native New Yorker, graduated from Wesleyan University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in neuroscience and behavior. He relocated to the City of Brotherly Love shortly thereafter. By day, Eric served as a technician at the University of Pennsylvania’s Treatment Research Center, an outpatient addiction research clinic. There, he studied the efficacies of novel medications for the treatment of cocaine and opiate dependencies. By night, Eric served as a freelance reporter for the Arts and Entertainment section of Metro Philadelphia, the city’s second most widely circulated newspaper. Eric made his way westward in the fall of 2008 to serve as the research coordinator of the Hillblom Aging Network, the Memory and Aging Center’s cohort of normal, aging individuals. Eric is interested in the processes of memory formation and the fundamental principles of cognition. In his free time, Eric enjoys cooking for friends, writing short stories and exploring the quirks of San Francisco.
Marian Tse joined the Memory and Aging Center in 2006 as a Clinical Research Coordinator. Her primary role is administering cognitive tests to Chinese patients at different outreach sites and in the MAC clinic. Prior to joining the MAC, she worked for various research labs at UCSF. In her free time, Marian enjoys hiking, cooking and singing.
Reva Wilheim graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 2005 where she received a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Linguistics. As an undergraduate, she assisted Dr. Carla Hudson Kam with a psycho-linguistic research study on the occurrences of disfluency in children's speech. While attending Berkeley, Reva studied various aspects of psychology, cognitive science, neurology and linguistics, all of which nurtured a desire to study the human brain and how people think. Due to her desire to learn more about the brain and to help others, Reva joined the Memory and Aging Center in the spring of 2008. Reva assists the Hillblom Healthy Aging Network, which is a longitudinal and observational study of healthy aging. She also coordinates the Aging and Myelin Study, a subproject of the Hillblom that looks for early predictive signs of cognitive decline. When not working at UCSF, Reva enjoys exploring all the Bay Area has to offer, including restaurants, museums, parks and various neighborhoods.
Sarah joined the Memory and Aging Center in September of 2008 to work as a research and administrative assistant on the Hillblom Normal Aging and Myelin & Aging projects. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 2007 with a BA in biology, a minor in psychology and a keen interest in neuroscience. As an undergraduate, Sarah worked as a research assistant in the biobehavioral laboratory of Dr. William Falls where she studied the effect of exercise on the reinstatement of Pavlovian conditioned fear in mice. The year following her graduation, Sarah worked at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological disease studying neurobehavioral function in mouse models of neurological disease. Sarah hopes to pursue a graduate degree in neuropsychology in the near future. She enjoys reading, going to concerts, snowboarding, cooking and spending time with her family and friends. |
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