UCSF’s innovative, collaborative approach to patient care, research and education spans disciplines across the life sciences, making it a world leader in scientific discovery and its translation to improving health.
Joanne (Joe) Wu was born in Taishan, China, and moved to San Francisco at a young age. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in human biology from the University of California, San Diego. As an undergraduate researcher in the Zheng Lab at UC San Diego School of Medicine, she focused on spinal cord regeneration in mouse models.
Ally earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 2025. During her undergraduate studies, she worked as a research assistant investigating the emergence of social awareness and bias in young children. Currently, Ally serves as an assistant clinical research coordinator at the ALBA Lab’s Dyslexia Center at UCSF. She is passionate about child development and clinical psychology and plans to continue advancing her research and expertise in these fields.
Dr. Jake Levy, originally from Montreal, Quebec, has aspired to be a behavioral neurologist since the age of 12. He earned both his medical degree and a Master of Science at McGill University, followed by a neurology residency at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Currently, his primary interests lie in clinical trials, biomarkers, and atypical dementias.
Outside of work, Jake enjoys running, hiking, exploring new cuisines, and cheering for the Montreal Canadiens hockey team.
Paula earned her medical degree from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru. She joined the ALBA Lab as a research assistant on the Multitudes project and is currently working as an assistant clinical research coordinator at the Dyslexia Center.
Meghan earned her Bachelor of Science degree from UC Irvine in June 2025. While at UC Irvine, she worked with Dr. Aaron Bornstein studying decision-making and memory in older adults.
Currently, she serves as an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator in Dr. David Perry’s lab. Her research interests include studying neurodegenerative diseases and their effects on decision-making and memory.
Miranda graduated from UC Berkeley in 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. She previously worked at the Berkeley Psychophysiology Lab, where she studied the emotions, health, and relationship outcomes of caregivers of people with dementia. Now at the Memory and Aging Center, she works on the Frontotemporal Dementia: Genes, Images, and Emotions study. In the future, Miranda plans to attend medical school.
Dr. Juliana Friend is a medical anthropologist specializing in ethnographic and community-engaged qualitative research. Drawing on expertise in digital health, bioethics, and privacy studies, Dr. Friend's work addresses the intersection of tech policy and health policy and aims to amplify the perspectives of diverse constituents on how to amplify the benefits of emerging technologies while minimizing potential harms.
Nilgoun Bahar, SLP, PhD, is a postdoctoral research scholar in the ALBA Lab at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, where she works primarily on the Dyslexia Project. She earned her PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Oxford’s Brain, Speech, and Language Lab and holds a clinical master’s degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Toronto. She completed her clinical residency at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto.
Jessica is a research coordinator in Dr. Joel Kramer’s lab, working primarily on the MarkVCID study. She graduated with a BA degree in Neurobiology from UC Berkeley in May of 2024 and hopes to continue pursuing her interests in neurodegenerative diseases as well as becoming a neurosurgeon.
