People

Andrea Gorham Vargas

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

Andrea graduated from Cornell University in May 2022 with a major in Biology & Society and a minor in Latin American Studies. She joined the MAC in June 2022 as an assistant research coordinator in the Dementia Imaging Genetics Lab, coordinating a study that aims to identify how early-disease-specific neural circuit differences develop in children carrying mutations causing frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Marilu Gorno Tempini, MD, PhD

Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry

Dr. Maria Luisa Gorno Tempini is a behavioral neurologist and holds the Charles Schwab Endowed Professorship in Dyslexia and Neurodevelopment. She currently directs the Language Neurobiology Laboratory at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center and co-directs the UCSF Dyslexia Center. She obtained her medical degree and clinical neurology specialty training in Italy and has a doctorate in the neuroimaging of language from University College London.

Harli Grant

Program Manager

Harli manages the NIH-funded Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and the New Approaches to Dementia Heterogeneity project, an NIH funded research program.

Lea Grinberg, MD, PhD

Professor

Dr. Lea Tenenholz Grinberg is a neuropathologist specializing in brain aging and associated disorders, most notably, Alzheimer’s disease and the neurological basis of sleep disturbances in neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, she is a John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation Endowed Professor at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, part of the Executive Board of the Global Brain Health Institute and a member of the Medical Scientific Advisory Group for the Alzheimer’s Association.

Suvi Haekkinen, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Suvi Hakkinen is a postdoctoral scholar in the Dementia Imaging Genetics Laboratory led by Dr. Suzee Lee. She received her PhD degree from the Department of Psychology and Logopedics at the University of Helsinki in 2018, where she completed her dissertation on the functional organization of the human auditory cortex during active auditory tasks. She joined the Memory and Aging Center in 2018 to deepen her understanding of various neuroimaging methods and their relevance to clinical research.

Tobias Haeusermann

Specialist

Dr. Tobias Haeusermann is a sociologist in the UCSF Decision Lab with Dr. Winston Chiong, where his research aims to understand the ethical concerns in existing clinical applications of closed-loop neuromodulation in epilepsy, movement disorders and mood disorders.

Savannah Hallgarth

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

Savannah is a research coordinator in Dr. Joel Kramer’s lab. She graduated from the UC Santa Cruz Cognitive Science program and is interested in the relationship between music and memory during the aging process. 

Carmen Hart

Program & Events Manager, GBHI

Carmen Hart is the Program and Events Manager for the Global Brain Health Institute. She works closely with the Executive Director and GBHI senior staff to coordinate, manage and plan key aspects and activities of GBHI and the Atlantic Fellows program. She brings extensive expertise in event planning, project coordination, marketing and sales in the healthcare, media, technology and luxury hospitality industries. Before joining GBHI, she managed a contact center team at George P.

Shreya Hegde

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

Shreya Hegde is an alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin and has a strong passion for neuroscience and research. She helps coordinate the Frontotemporal Dementia: Genes, Images and Emotions program project.

Joanna Hellmuth, MD, MHS

Assistant Professor

Dr. Joanna Hellmuth is a neurologist with sub-specialty training in cognitive and behavioral neurology. She practices at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, where she evaluates and manages patients with mild cognitive impairment; neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body disease, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia; and patients with HIV-related cognitive changes. Dr.

Cesar Hernandez

Data Liaison

Cesar holds bachelor’s degrees in psychology and ecology from the University of California, Davis and a Master of Public Health in epidemiology from Boston University. Prior to joining the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, Cesar worked in the Women’s Health Clinical Research Center (WHCRC) at UCSF managing data for the San Francisco Mammography Registry (SFMR) database and various clinical trial studies.

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