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.
As an Assistant Professor of Neurology at UCSF, Dr. Lawren Vandevrede's overarching goal is to provide outstanding clinical care to patients with dementia and their caregivers. He completed his medical training in Chicago, where he also obtained a PhD degree in neuroscience working with his mentor to develop novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Sarat Vatsavayai received a master of science degree in Human Genetics from Andhra University, India. He then did his doctoral work in the field of Huntington’s disease at the Open University, UK, where he was characterizing a novel mouse model and was trying to find out if DNA repeat instability could modify disease progression. In July 2013, he joined Dr.
Christina Veziris is an assistant clinical research coordinator in the UCSF Clinical Affective Neuroscience (CAN) Lab. She graduated from the University of San Francisco in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and minors in neuroscience and health studies. She volunteered in the CAN lab for a year and then worked in the Relationships, Emotions, and Health Lab at San Francisco State University for three years using the Facial Action Coding System to code facial emotions.
Lucienne Vintaer is the Executive Administrative Assistant to Dr. Maria Luisa Gorno Tempini. Born and raised in San Francisco, she earned her BA degree at Scripps College of the Claremont Consortium and found her interest in organizational administration working for the University's Disability Resource Center, serving individuals with varying neurodivergence.
Jet Vonk received her PhD degree in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences from the City University of New York Graduate Center, with a focus on neurolinguistics and cognitive science. She also maintains an affiliation with the Department of Epidemiology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where she is currently obtaining a second PhD in Epidemiology.
Anil Vora joined the Memory and Aging Center in December 2022 as the Executive Analyst. He is responsible for managing Dr. Bruce Miller’s schedule, travel, research collaborations and other advanced administrative objectives related to the executive office. He also partners with the center’s six leadership committees acting as a primary resource for committee operations and strategic priorities.
Christine M. Walsh, PhD, received her BA degree in physiology from Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin in Ireland. Dr. Walsh did her doctoral work at the University of Michigan studying the effects of REM sleep modulation on learning and memory. She also studied the neural correlates of cognitive aging. In 2011 Dr. Walsh joined the UCSF Memory and Aging Center where she has been studying sleep in both healthy older adults and in individuals with neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Walsh is particularly interested in the contribution of sleep disturbance to cognitive decline.
Cathy earned a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University in New York. Her extensive knowledge about social service systems is based on her work experience at the local, state and federal level. She was a consultant, training social workers in nursing homes to maintain state licensure. Cathy is also a registered yoga teacher and a Grief Recovery Specialist.
Dr. Watson (she/her) is a neuropsychologist who cares for patients with a variety of cognitive and mental health needs. She is licensed in the state of California (PSY 34742) and conducts comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, community-based clinics for underserved communities in the Bay Area, and an independent practice. She currently works at UCSF as an NIH Brain Health Equity fellow.
Lisa works as a research speech-language pathologist at the MAC. She earned her BA degree in English with a minor in Linguistics from Boston University in 2009 and her MA in Speech-Language Pathology from UT Austin in 2016. She has practiced speech pathology in a variety of settings, including a rehab hospital, home health and private practice. Her primary areas of research include assessment and treatment of aphasia and cognitive-communication disorders associated with stroke, neurodegenerative disease and traumatic brain injury.
Alex Weigand (she/they) is a first-year UCSF Clinical Psychology Training Program (CPTP) intern/fellow working at the Memory and Aging Center (MAC) as part of Dr. Possin's research group. She is coming to UCSF from her clinical psychology PhD program at San Diego State University/University of California San Diego.
