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.
Maya graduated from UC San Diego in 2023 with a degree in Cognitive Science, Specializing in Neuroscience. As an undergraduate, she worked at the Center for Healthy Eating and Activity Research and the Zeidan Lab. At the UCSF Memory and Aging Center she works on the Frontotemporal Dementia: Genes, Images and Emotions study.
Carina is a research coordinator in Dr. Joel Kramer’s lab working primarily on Dr. Kramer’s Healthy Aging studies. She graduated with a BS degree in Biology from Tufts University in May 2023.
Aaron Colverson is a Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology, with partnering research in Neuropsychology. He graduated from Berklee College of Music with a BM degree in Professional Music focusing on jazz violin performance, after which he moved to Nairobi, Kenya, for two years, embedding himself in East African musical traditions and cultures.
Emily Paolillo, PhD, is an Assistant Professor and neuropsychologist at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center. She obtained her PhD degree in Clinical Psychology (emphasis in Neuropsychology) from the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in 2021, which included a predoctoral clinical internship at VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Her program of research focuses on advancing real-world assessment of cognitive and everyday functioning in older adults in naturalistic settings, with the goal of improving early and sensitive detection of change in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Dr. Kelly Atkins is a Clinical Neuropsychologist from Melbourne Australia, completing postdoctoral research at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in the Department of Neurology. She graduated from Monash University in 2021 with a doctorate in Clinical Neuropsychology and completed her registrar training at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, before moving to Weill Cornell Medicine on a postdoctoral Fulbright Fellowship. Kelly's research interests focus on the measurement of cognitive and neuropsychiatric changes in people with atypical neurodegenerative conditions.
Karin (“Kari”) joined the Boxer Lab’s Clinical Trials team as a Project Manager in 2023. A San Francisco native (born at UCSF!), she has managed intervention research for over 15 years, the last ten aiming to reduce stress in family caregivers of people with dementia.
Dr. Saloner is a scientist-practitioner and Assistant Professor at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center. His research integrates deep molecular screening tools, including large-scale proteomics platforms and targeted biomarker assays, with longitudinal clinical phenotyping to discover molecular pathways and biomarker candidates that drive the earliest clinical manifestations of neurodegenerative disease. Dr.
Coty is a research coordinator for Dr. Kaitlin Casaletto’s Activities for Aging Neurogenesis study, an intervention-based study investigating the relationship between lifestyle factors and protein markers of neural functioning. She graduated with a BS degree in Clinical Psychology from UC San Diego.
Molly studied Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She then completed her PhD degree with Professor Peter Juo at Tufts University, where she investigated the regulation of the AMPA-type glutamate receptor by its deubiquitinating enzyme USP-46 in C. elegans. She identified two novel mechanisms by which USP-46 is stabilized and activated by two WD40-repeat proteins, WDR-48 and WDR-20, to promote AMPAR abundance and recycling to the neuronal surface. In the Kao lab, Molly will continue her research in protein homeostasis and degradation in C.
