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.
Zoe was born and raised in Northern California. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in December of 2023 with a degree in biology with a neuroscience focus. Previously, Zoe worked as an undergraduate research associate in the Campbell Lab at WashU School of Medicine, investigating brain volume differences and volumetric progression patterns in Parkinson’s disease clinical subtypes through MRI imaging.
Katherine graduated from the University of California, Davis with a BS degree in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior. During her time in college, she explored various paths, including an internship at the local hospital as well as working at the COVID Testing Facility at UC Davis. She is currently working with the Sample Processing Laboratory at UCSF as a Lab Assistant to aid with the processing and shipping of various biospecimens for clinical studies.
Collin has BS degree in Biological Sciences, with an emphasis in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Merced. He is driven by an inclination for multidisciplinary knowledge and a desire to learn. During his undergraduate study, he worked in the lab of Dr. Betsy Dumont and under the guidance of postdoc Dr. Gregory Mutumi to explore the morphological adaptations of sensory structures within the skulls of bats. His experiences were further enriched by journal club, quantitative systems biology seminars, and his work with diceCT and 3D visualization.
Dr. Peter A. Ljubenkov is a behavioral neurologist at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center and specializes in caring for patients experiencing memory, language and behavioral changes due to neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia, and other causes of dementia.
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.
Jolina received her master’s degree in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. For her PhD degree in clinical neuropsychology, she joined the German FTLD consortium at the Department of Neurology in Ulm, Germany to examine cognitive features and neuroimaging biomarkers in frontotemporal dementia with a focus on primary progressive aphasia. She joined the Dementia Imaging Genetics Lab in 2021 to get a deeper understanding of the brain’s connectivity and its systematic degeneration in frontotemporal dementia.
Xavier graduated from UC Berkeley in May 2023 with a double major in Psychology and Social Welfare. During college, he worked in the Family & Culture Lab with Dr. Qing Zhou as a research assistant investigating the links among bilingual development, executive function, parent-child and teacher-child relationships, and socio-emotional development in young children from Mexican American and Chinese American families. He also worked in La Clínica de la Raza as an Integrated Behavioral Health Volunteer serving undocumented individuals in the East Bay.
Leslie Magana is a clinical research coordinator in the Memory and Aging Center working with Dr. Howie Rosen and Cecilia Alagappan. In this role, she oversees the ADDPCP (Advancing the Diagnosis of Dementia in Primary Care Practice) project, focused on improving primary care assessment and the diagnosis of dementia using the Assessment of Cognitive Complaints Toolkit.
Piyush is a Neuroimaging Data analyst in the RabLab, with experience in medical imaging. He obtained his master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from India.
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.
Maria Luisa Mandelli leads the neuroimaging research within the language team of the Memory and Aging Center. Her research focuses on neuroanatomical changes caused by language and other neurodegenerative disorders. She has been working on brain magnetic resonance imaging for the past ten years, with the goal of better understanding of how the brain develops, changes over time, and how it makes us who we are.
Alyson is a practice coordinator that handles many sub-specialty clinics for the MAC such as Huntington’s disease, movement disorders and genetics. She graduated from CSU Long Beach with a bachelor’s degree in health science. She enjoys baking desserts, learning about the Korean culture and language, and has a passion for helping all those in need.
