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.
Jet Vonk received her PhD degree in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences from the City University of New York Graduate Center, with a focus on neurolinguistics and cognitive science. She also maintains an affiliation with the Department of Epidemiology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where she is currently obtaining a second PhD in Epidemiology.
Anil Vora joined the Memory and Aging Center in December 2022 as the Executive Analyst. He is responsible for managing Dr. Bruce Miller’s schedule, travel, research collaborations and other advanced administrative objectives related to the executive office. He also partners with the center’s six leadership committees acting as a primary resource for committee operations and strategic priorities.
Whitney Walker is a dedicated Adult-Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist with over a decade of acute care experience at UCSF. Originally from Connecticut, she brings over 13 years of expertise in acute transitional and ICU clinical settings. Whitney previously held the role of Lead Clinical Trials Nurse at the UCSF Neuroscience Clinical Research Unit, where she honed her skills in clinical research and patient care.
Amie Wallman-Jones joined the UCSF Clinical Affective Neuroscience Lab (CAN) Lab at the Memory and Aging Center in February 2023. She previously received her PhD degree from the University of Bern in Switzerland. Her graduate work assessed how physical activity influences interoceptive processing, where she used a multi-method approach to reveal the active ingredients driving this relationship.
Christine M. Walsh, PhD, received her BA degree in physiology from Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin in Ireland. Dr. Walsh did her doctoral work at the University of Michigan studying the effects of REM sleep modulation on learning and memory. She also studied the neural correlates of cognitive aging. In 2011 Dr. Walsh joined the UCSF Memory and Aging Center where she has been studying sleep in both healthy older adults and in individuals with neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Walsh is particularly interested in the contribution of sleep disturbance to cognitive decline.
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.
Lisa works as a research speech-language pathologist at the MAC. She earned her BA degree in English with a minor in Linguistics from Boston University in 2009 and her MA in Speech-Language Pathology from UT Austin in 2016. She has practiced speech pathology in a variety of settings, including a rehab hospital, home health and private practice. Her primary areas of research include assessment and treatment of aphasia and cognitive-communication disorders associated with stroke, neurodegenerative disease and traumatic brain injury.
Alex Weigand (she/they) is a first-year UCSF Clinical Psychology Training Program (CPTP) intern/fellow working at the Memory and Aging Center (MAC) as part of Dr. Possin's research group. She is coming to UCSF from her clinical psychology PhD program at San Diego State University/University of California San Diego.
Lily was born and raised in Lanzhou, China. She attended the University of California, San Diego and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Cognitive Science with a specialization in Design and Interaction and a Bachelor of Science degree in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN). At UCSF Memory and Aging Center, she works as a Clinical Research Coordinator who coordinates Mandarin-speaking participants.
Sara Wessen Chang is an art historian, curator, and producer with a focus on neuroaesthetics. She serves as an artist and community liaison for arts initiatives at the Memory and Aging Center and the Global Brain Health Institute.
Destine Williams is a Staff Research Associate in the Specimens Processing Lab. She is from Phoenix, Arizona, and studied at Purdue University, where she earned a BS degree in Psychology. She plans to pursue medical school later in the future.
