Caregiving

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 level. She was a consultant, training social workers in nursing homes to maintain state licensure. Cathy is also a registered yoga teacher and a Grief Recovery Specialist.

Cecilia Alagappan has been at UCSF Memory and Aging Center (MAC) since 2011 and is a clinical and research nurse. She has over 30 years of nursing experience caring for elderly 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.

Dr. Possin’s research program is focused on improving the detection, diagnosis and care for people with neurodegenerative disease. She has long-standing interests in understanding the cognitive impairments and their neural bases in neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body disease, Huntington’s disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy and frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

Ms. Gearhart received her undergraduate degree in Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. She began her nursing career at Johns Hopkins Hospital where she worked in acute care on Osler 4 General Medicine. Ms. Gearhart continued working in general medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center where she was nurse manager. She received her master's degree in Nursing Administration at UCSF and is certified as a Gerontological Clinical Nurse Specialist by the American Nurses Association Credentialing Center.