James Qian

James was born and raised in Beijing, China. He graduated from Westmont College in December 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. His senior capstone project explored the effects of mindfulness meditation on people with mild cognitive impairment. 

After graduation, he worked as a program specialist at Friendship Center Adult Day Services in Santa Barbara, where he organized and led memory-strengthening activities for older adults with dementia.

He then completed his master’s degree in the social sciences with a focus on cognitive psychology at the University of Chicago. His thesis research compared auditory working memory and visual attention of different types of video gamers.

At UCSF Memory and Aging Center, James works as a Clinical Research Coordinator for the Asian Cohort for Alzheimer’s Disease (ACAD) project with Dr. Van Park.