Clinical Trials

People who work primarily in testing drug-based interventions through clinical trials.

Tara Ellingson

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator
Alex Hernandez

Alex Hernandez, MPH

Clinical Research Coordinator

Alex earned his degree from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, where he specialized in the epidemiology of chronic diseases. He is passionate about advancing health care literacy and empowering individuals to make informed decisions about their well-being.

Outside of work, Alex enjoys running around Lake Merritt in Oakland, exploring new music, and hiking and camping in the great outdoors.

Karin Snowberg

Research Project Manager

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.
 

Eden Barragan, PhD

Research Specialist

Eden received a BS degree in Biological Sciences from UC Irvine and a PhD in Neuroscience from UC Davis. Her doctoral work broadly focused on learning, memory, and synaptic plasticity. Now, as a member of the Boxer Lab, she is interested in facilitating more equitable and inclusive research of neurodegenerative disorders.

Rebecca Snell

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

Rebecca Snell graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor of Science degree in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior with an emphasis in Neurobiology and a minor in Psychology. She works as part of the Clinical Trials Team with Dr. Adam Boxer.

Jack Taylor, BS

Clincial Research Coordinator

Jack Taylor is an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator in the Boxer Lab of the Memory and Aging Center, focused on piloting and implementing smartphone-based cognitive assessments into ALLFTD (the ARTFL-LEFFTDS Longitudinal Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration multisite research consortium).

Nhat Bui, NP

Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner

Nhật Bùi earned her master’s degree in nursing here at UCSF in 2016. She is certified as an Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). 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.

Lawren Vandevrede, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor

As an Assistant Professor of Neurology at UCSF, Dr. Lawren Vandevrede's overarching goal is to provide outstanding clinical care to patients with dementia and their caregivers. He completed his medical training in Chicago, where he also obtained a PhD degree in neuroscience working with his mentor to develop novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Hilary Heuer, PhD

Oculomotor Specialist

Dr. Hilary Heuer is an oculomotor specialist in the Boxer lab.

Julio Rojas, MD, PhD

Associate Professor

Julio Rojas is a neurologist who specializes in dementia, caring for patients with cognitive difficulties or behavioral changes resulting from conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia (a form of dementia that causes cognitive defects and Parkinson’s-like symptoms), frontotemporal dementia (a common cause of dementia in younger adults that features behavioral changes) and progressive supranuclear pa

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