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.
Alessandra serves as the primary point of contact for the Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health program at GBHI. While monitoring the fellows' progress and providing programmatic support, she facilitates connections within the Memory and Aging Center and the UCSF community.
Jana’s life is a continuous discovery of new passions and interests. Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Jana’s passion for the outdoors, adventure and curiosity was determined at birth. In between camping and fishing with her family, she competed on a high level on the junior tennis circuit and eventually became a recruited athlete to Cornell University. This is where she found her passion for genetics and how this science impacts people and their lives. She went on to the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health and completed a Master of Science in genetic counseling.
Daisy is a clinical research coordinator for the Frontotemporal Dementia: Genes, Images and Emotions Program Project Grant at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center. She received her BA degree from UC Berkeley in Cognitive Neuroscience. There, she worked with Dr. Bob Knight on a study investigating the neurological mechanisms of intentional forgetting, and with Dr. Tania Lombrozo on a study looking at the relationship between one’s beliefs in free will and determinism, and their moral behavior.
Mary Koestler joined the Memory and Aging Center’s clinical trials unit as project administrator and trials nurse in July 2007. Dr. Koestler completed a master’s degree in nursing with an emphasis in clinical research management at UCSF followed by a PhD degree. She currently manages industry-sponsored FDA Phase I-III Alzheimer’s disease trials. Dr. Koestler is credentialed by the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP).
Dr. Kramer is a Professor of Neuropsychology in Neurology, the Director of the Memory and Aging Center Neuropsychology program, and the John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation Endowed Professor at UCSF. He earned his doctorate in psychology at Baylor University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at the Martinez VA hospital. Dr. Kramer is board certified in clinical neuropsychology.
Lisa Kritikos earned her master’s degree in nursing at UCSF School of Nursing in 2020. She is certified as an Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).
Stephanie was born and raised in Hong Kong. She attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cognitive Science and Linguistics. At the Memory and Aging Center, she coordinates visits for Chinese-speaking participants. She aims to pursue a graduate degree in speech language pathology in the near future.
Renaud La Joie originally studied medicine in his native Normandy before graduating with a master’s degree in neuroscience from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris. He then pursued a PhD degree in neuropsychology with Gael Chételat and Béatrice Desgranges, where he studied Alzheimer's disease using multimodal PET and MRI imaging. Dr. La Joie then spent a year with Dr. William Jagust at the University of California, Berkeley before joining Dr. Gil Rabinovici’s lab at the Memory and Aging Center in March 2016.
Tia graduated from UC Berkeley in 2020 after completing a dual degree in Integrative Biology and Molecular Environmental Biology. She started her research journey in 2018 as a research assistant at the Grinberg Lab practicing various wet lab techniques and focusing on the locus coeruleus' role as a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease.
Dr. Serggio Lanata was raised in Peru, where he began his undergraduate studies in general science. He later earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Florida. He obtained his medical degree from the University of South Florida and then completed his medicine internship and neurology residency at Brown University. He joined the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in 2013 as a Clinical Instructor and Behavioral Neurology Fellow.
Courtney studied biological engineering and biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She then completed her MD/PhD at UT Southwestern. She trained with Dr. Joachim Herz studying ApoE receptor signaling in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease. She identified a role for reelin, a protein that is vital for brain development, in protecting older rodents against amyloid beta, one of the primary pathology proteins that accumulate in Alzheimer's disease.
