Caregiving

Miranda graduated from UC Berkeley in 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts degree 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 Edward and Pearl Memory and Aging Center, she works on the Frontotemporal Dementia: Genes, Images, and Emotions study. In the future, Miranda plans to attend medical school.

Karin (“Kari”) joined the Boxer Lab’s Clinical Trials team at the Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center as a project manager in 2023. A San Francisco native (born at UCSF), she has managed intervention research for more than 15 years, including the last 10 years focusing on reducing stress in family caregivers of people with dementia.

Xavier graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in May 2023 with a double major in psychology and social welfare. During college, he worked as a research assistant in the Family & Culture Lab with Dr. Qing Zhou, investigating the links between bilingual development, executive function, parent-child and teacher-child relationships, and socio-emotional development in young children from Mexican American and Chinese American families.

Michelle received her master’s degree in Lifespan Developmental Psychology with a specialization in Gerontology from Louisiana State University. She has over 25 years of experience working with people with dementia and their care partners as a researcher, consultant, educator and program planner. Her areas of expertise include timely detection, early intervention and improving health care quality for people with dementia.

As a social worker at the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center Clinic, Amanda Li assists with brief psychotherapy, resource coordination and education, and psychosocial assessments to work with the multidisciplinary team in identifying areas of support that she can provide and areas of strength/growth for patients and their families.

Nhật Bùi earned her master’s degree in nursing at UCSF in 2016. She is certified as an adult-gerontology nurse practitioner by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). At the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center, Nhật assists with the Alzheimer’s Dementia Research Center and clinical trial projects by conducting patient assessments and caregiver interviews for observational research studies and clinical drug trials.

Sarah Dulaney earned a Master of Science degree in gerontological nursing at UCSF and is certified as a Geriatric Clinical Nurse Specialist by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Cathy earned a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University in New York. Her extensive knowledge about social service systems is based on her work experience at the local, state, and federal levels. She was a consultant, training social workers in nursing homes to maintain state licensure, before joining the Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center. Cathy is also a registered yoga teacher and a Grief Recovery Specialist.

Cecilia Alagappan, RN, has been at the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center since 2011 and serves as a clinical and research nurse. She has over 30 years of nursing experience caring for older patients with various medical conditions, including those with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, cardiac disease, and cancers needing home infusion therapy and pain management. As a nurse educator in a home care agency, Cecilia trained caregivers to care for patients with dementia, including assisting the family with behavior management and activities of daily living.

Kate Possin, PhD, is a professor in residence in the Department of Neurology at the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center and the Global Brain Health Institute within the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. She holds the John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation Endowed Professorship and is the Clinical Core Lead for the UCSF Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Dr.