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.
Laura Wise was born and raised in San Francisco. She has a bachelor of science degree in health education from San Francisco State University. Laura always had a passion for promoting health education in underserved communities and serving as an advocate for access to better healthcare and medical treatment resources for people of color. She also has a passion for supporting troubled youth in navigating mental and physical health challenges.
Evelyn serves as the UCSF Finance and Operations Manager for the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI). In this role, she works closely with Trinity College Dublin to manage GBHI finances and financial reporting, as well as managing many of the site-specific operations at the UCSF site.
Matthew previously worked at the Memory and Aging Center coordinating the Longitudinal Brain Aging Program from 2013–2015 before leaving to pursue his PhD degree in Clinical Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. His research during graduate school focused on improving knowledge and awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. Matthew has returned to the Memory and Aging Center as a postdoctoral psychology fellow working with Dr.
Nicole graduated from UC Davis in 2015 with an AB degree in psychology. Before joining the Alba Lab in 2018, Nicole worked with Dr. Jeffrey Sall in the UCSF Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care and Dr. Simona Ghetti in the UC Davis Memory and Development Lab to investigate the relationship between anesthesia exposure and recognition memory in children. She is interested in studying the conditions that modulate the limitations of cognitive and perceptual processes.
Kristine Yaffe, MD, is the Scola Endowed Chair and Vice Chair, Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology, and Director of the Center for Population Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Yaffe is dually trained in neurology and psychiatry and completed postdoctoral training in epidemiology and geriatric psychiatry, all at UCSF. In addition to her positions at UCSF, Dr. Yaffe is the Chief of NeuroPsychiatry and the Director of the Memory Evaluation Clinic at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System.
Director of Evaluation and Strategic Projects, GBHI
As the Director of Evaluation and Strategic Projects for the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), Stacey is responsible for collecting and analyzing program data to inform continuous improvement efforts and over time, demonstrating the impact of the GBHI community. Stacey’s academic training and past experience in health disparities research, program evaluation and public health practice have ignited her passion for translational research with a focus on social impact.
Claire is an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator working with the PET Core team in the Rabinovici Lab. She was born and raised in the Bay Area and graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. Claire was previously an undergraduate research assistant in the High Level Perception Lab and Samaha Lab at UC Santa Cruz, where she worked on projects studying music cognition and the neural basis of confidence in decision making.
Annie completed a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2023. As an undergraduate, Annie was a part of Dr. Andreas Schwingshackl’s lab, where she investigated the regulation of cell potentials with novel pharmacological drugs in mediating lung injuries and was awarded the 2023 Dean’s Prize for Research and Creativity. She founded the Language Interpretation in Healthcare Project at UCLA to promote health literacy and aid low-English proficiency communities in accessing adequate healthcare.
Jennifer Yokoyama obtained her doctorate degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics from UCSF in December 2010 with Dr. Steven Hamilton (Department of Psychiatry and Institute for Human Genetics). Her dissertation comprised work within the Canine Behavioral Genetics Project, utilizing purebred dogs as genetic models for studying neuropsychiatric disease. Utilizing community-based canine DNA samples, Dr.
