Language

People primarily focused on studying speech and language.

Nicoletta Biondo, PhD

Specialist

Nicoletta holds a PhD degree in Psychological Sciences and Education from the University of Trento and a Master’s degree in Linguistics and Cognitive Studies from the University of Siena. Her research bridges theoretical linguistics and cognitive neuroscience to investigate how linguistic information is processed in the brain across different populations, including healthy and brain-injured monolingual and bilingual adults, using methods such as eye-tracking, EEG, and neuroimaging.

Julian M. Siebert, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar

Dr. Siebert is a quantitative researcher interested in linguistically equitable measurement in education and its influence on multilingual students’ educational trajectories. He is a Postdoctoral Scholar with UCSF’s Multitudes Project where he works on building a linguistically fair reading screener for Californian public schools. 

He completed his PhD degree in Developmental and Psychological Sciences and Education Data Science at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, under the supervision of Guillermo Solano-Flores.

Willa Keegan-Rodewald

Willa Keegan-Rodewald, MA

Speech Pathologist

Willa is a speech-language pathologist at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in the ALBA Language Neurobiology Lab. Willa has a BA degree in Psychology from Lewis & Clark College and an MA degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Texas at Austin.

Marilu Gorno Tempini

Marilu Gorno Tempini, MD, PhD

Professor in Residence

Dr. Maria Luisa Gorno Tempini is a behavioral neurologist, currently directing the Language Neurobiology laboratory of the UCSF Memory and Aging Center and the UCSF Dyslexia Center. She also directs the state-funded Multitudes Universal Screening Project, one of the four reading difficulties risk screeners approved by a state appointed panel for use in California public schools beginning in Fall of 2025. She obtained her medical degree and clinical neurology specialty training in Italy, and has a PhD in the neuroimaging of language from University College London.

Celina Alba, MS

Celina Alba, MS

Staff Research Associate

Celina graduated from the University of San Diego with a BA degree in Behavioral Neuroscience and a minor in Philosophy before she obtained her MS degree in Neuroimaging and Informatics from the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine.

Eugenie Mamuyac

Eugenie Mamuyac

Research Coordinator

Eugenie Mamuyac joined the UCSF Dyslexia Center's Multitudes project in September 2021. Now, she primarily works with Dr. Jessica de Leon as a research coordinator and administers the CATS (Cognitive Assessments for Tagalog Speakers) battery.

Prior to UCSF, Eugenie received her master's degree in Asia Pacific Studies at the University of San Francisco. Her research interests include bilingualism and acculturation.

Christy Boesch

Christine Boesch

Neuropsychology Intern

Christy Boesch is a 3rd year PsyD student at the Wright Institute in Berkeley. She received her BS degree in 2017 from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo in Child Development with a Psychology and Studio Art minor. In 2019 she graduated with her MS degree in Infancy and Early Childhood Development from University College London. Christy conducted research with the Anna Freud Centre in London, UK, which evaluated how parental mental health correlated with children's cognitive development.

Maya Bardorf

Maya Bardorf, BA

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

Maya graduated from Middlebury College in 2024 with a BA degree in neuroscience and a minor in art history. During her time at Middlebury, she contributed to a research project investigating gender and sex differences in visuospatial abilities among children using the Judgment of Line and Position Task (JLAP). Maya also spent a summer as a research assistant in the Hammack Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Vermont, where she studied the neurobiological underpinning of anxiety-like and depression-like behaviors.

Diana Rodriguez, BS

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

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