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.
Youjin joined the Dementia Imaging Genetics Lab, led by Dr. Suzee Lee, in February 2024 as a Postdoctoral Scholar to investigate potential multimodal neuroimaging biomarkers for early detection and monitoring of frontotemporal dementia. Youjin received her bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Home Economics Education and a master’s degree in brain and cognitive engineering from Korea University in South Korea.
Aimee Kao, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco and the John Douglas French Foundation Endowed Professor. She leads an NIH-supported Tau Center Without Walls and directs the UCSF Tau Consortium Human Fibroblast Bank. Dr.
Samhita graduated from UC Berkeley in May 2022 with a degree in cognitive science. During college, she worked in the Cognitive Development & Learning Lab with Dr. Ny Vasil and Dr. Alison Gopnik researching the development of causal reasoning in children. She completed her undergraduate thesis in the Gopnik Lab, exploring the relationship between Generic Language and Causal Stability in adults.
Sarah Kaufman received her undergraduate degree in Molecular and Cell Biology, with a focus in Neuroscience from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her MD/PhD degrees through Washington University in St. Louis MSTP. Her graduate research focused on tau aggregation and tau strain biology in the laboratory of Marc Diamond. After completing her dual degree she began Neurology residency at the University of California, San Francisco.
Niall Kavanagh is a communications officer with the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI). Based at UCSF, he is responsible for developing and sharing the stories and messages of GBHI and the Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health.
Nair completed a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Neuroscience at UC Santa Cruz in 2021. As an undergraduate, Nair founded the National Alzheimer’s Buddies UCSC chapter and became the national Chief Operations Officer for the organization, helping to recruit new chapters and bridge intergenerational gaps in dementia care across the US.
Margo graduated from UCLA with a BS degree in Applied Mathematics and a minor in Cognitive Science. She has previously worked at UCLA’s Computational Vision and Learning Lab and the German research center Forschungszentrum Jülich. Margo currently works in the UCSF Dyslexia Center, with a focus on math cognition and neuroimaging.
Alessandra serves as the primary point of contact for the Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health program at GBHI. While monitoring the fellows' progress and providing programmatic support, she facilitates connections within the Memory and Aging Center and the UCSF community.
Jana’s life is a continuous discovery of new passions and interests. Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Jana’s passion for the outdoors, adventure and curiosity was determined at birth. In between camping and fishing with her family, she competed on a high level on the junior tennis circuit and eventually became a recruited athlete to Cornell University. This is where she found her passion for genetics and how this science impacts people and their lives. She went on to the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health and completed a Master of Science in genetic counseling.
Daisy is a clinical research coordinator for the Frontotemporal Dementia: Genes, Images and Emotions Program Project Grant at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center. She received her BA degree from UC Berkeley in Cognitive Neuroscience. There, she worked with Dr. Bob Knight on a study investigating the neurological mechanisms of intentional forgetting, and with Dr. Tania Lombrozo on a study looking at the relationship between one’s beliefs in free will and determinism, and their moral behavior.
