People

Valerie Escobar, PhD

Specialist

Valerie joined the Yokoyama Lab in 2023 as a staff scientist with a career-long interest in evaluating genetic factors involved in neurological diseases. She earned a PhD degree in Neuroscience at the University of Michigan, where she identified transcriptional regulation sequences for a gene involved in epilepsy and movement disorders. During her postdoctoral fellowship at NHGRI and UCSF, she studied the role of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson’s disease.

Manizhe Eslami Amirabadi, MD

Behavioral Neurology Clinical Fellow

Dr. Manizhe Eslami Amirabadi attended medical school in Yazd, Iran. Passionate about equity in healthcare, she then worked as a family physician for a year in an underserved area of Iran before starting her neurology residency in Tehran. She became interested in cognitive decline in the setting of chronic systemic illnesses and worked with chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients during her residency. She eventually moved to the US to pursue further training in cognitive neurology hoping to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia.

Zoe Ezzes

Speech Language Pathologist

Zoe is a speech-language pathologist at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in the ALBA Language Neurobiology Lab led by Dr. Marilu Gorno Tempini. Zoe has a BS degree in Cognitive Science with a specialization in neuroscience from UC San Diego and an MS degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Vanderbilt University.

Iman Fathali

Asst. Clinical Research Coord.

Originally from Philadelphia, Iman began working at the Memory and Aging Center (MAC) following her graduation from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in Biology and Medical Sociology. While at the University of Pennsylvania, Iman worked on projects involving neuroradiology and cognitive disorders. At the MAC, Iman's primary role is as an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator for the national CADASIL Consortium Study, an observational study designed to study the effects of CADASIL, a form of vascular dementia. Following her time at the MAC, Iman plans to pursue medical school.

Kristen Fernhoff

Research Associate

Kristen joined the Selective Vulnerability Research Laboratory led by Dr. William Seeley in January 2022 as a research associate. She assists with neuroimaging data management and analysis. She received her BA degree in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis where she volunteered in the Cognitive Control and Psychopathology Lab.

Luke Fischer, MD, PhD

Research Fellow in Neuropathology

Dr. Luke Fischer (he/his) is a neurologist-neuroscientist with an interest in Lewy body disease. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Michigan State University with degrees in Philosophy and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and he remained there to complete his PhD degree in Neuroscience in the laboratory of Dr. Caryl E. Sortwell as part of a dual-MD/PhD program. As a trainee in the NINDS Morris K.

Taru Flagan

Research Scientist

Taru received a bachelor of science degree in cognitive neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego and completed a PhD degree in psychology in the Self-Regulation Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin in 2016. She joined the Dementia Imaging Genetics Lab in 2017 to support neuroimaging methods for understanding the underlying biology of genetic variants of frontotemporal dementia.

Melina Flores

Executive Administrative Assistant to Francesca Pei, PhD

Melina Flores has worked in healthcare for over 15 years. She received a bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Management in 2015 and found working in the healthcare industry to be her passion, allowing her to nurture her desire to help others.

Jessica Foley, PhD, PsyD

Clinical Neuropsychologist

Jessica M Foley, Ph.D., ABPP-CN
Board Certified Clinical Neuropsychologist
Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Neurology

Celeste Fong

Clinical Research Coordinator

Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, Celeste earned her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. While there, she took several philosophy courses, inspiring her interest in bioethics. Afterwards, Celeste enrolled in the Masters of Bioethics program at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Her thesis research consisted of examining ethical perspectives of identity in patients who had undergone deep brain stimulation for treatment resistant depression.

Kristen Fox, RN

Research Nurse Manager

Chloe France, MSW

Clinical Social Worker

Chloe France earned a Master of Social Welfare degree at the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining the Memory and Aging Center, Chloe worked as a social worker at a memory care facility, working closely with residents and their families. Chloe has worked in long-term care settings and inpatient services and provided in-home visits. Chloe loves to work with families and patients to find solutions, provide support and improve the quality of life of those living with dementia.

Pages