Meet the Team

Peter A. Ljubenkov, MD, is a behavioral neurologist at the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center, where he specializes in caring for patients experiencing cognitive, language, and behavioral changes due to neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia, and other forms of dementia.

Carina is a research coordinator in Dr. Joel Kramer’s lab working primarily on Dr. Kramer’s Healthy Aging studies. She graduated with a BS degree in Biology from Tufts University in May 2023.

Jolina received her master’s degree in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. For her PhD degree in clinical neuropsychology, she joined the German FTLD consortium at the Department of Neurology in Ulm, Germany to examine cognitive features and neuroimaging biomarkers in frontotemporal dementia with a focus on primary progressive aphasia. She joined the Dementia Imaging Genetics Lab in 2021 to get a deeper understanding of the brain’s connectivity and its systematic degeneration in frontotemporal dementia.

Xavier graduated from UC Berkeley in May 2023 with a double major in Psychology and Social Welfare. During college, he worked in the Family & Culture Lab with Dr. Qing Zhou as a research assistant investigating the links among bilingual development, executive function, parent-child and teacher-child relationships, and socio-emotional development in young children from Mexican American and Chinese American families. He also worked in La Clínica de la Raza as an Integrated Behavioral Health Volunteer serving undocumented individuals in the East Bay. 

Crystal Yixin Luo serves as a data systems analyst for the Multitudes project, a groundbreaking digital platform and research system dedicated to advancing literacy outcomes and brain health. Luo plays a critical role in managing and analyzing complex data to drive the project’s mission in these areas.

Leslie Magana is a clinical research coordinator in the Memory and Aging Center working with Dr. Howie Rosen and Cecilia Alagappan. In this role, she oversees the ADDPCP (Advancing the Diagnosis of Dementia in Primary Care Practice) project, focused on improving primary care assessment and the diagnosis of dementia using the Assessment of Cognitive Complaints Toolkit.

Piyush is a Neuroimaging Data analyst in the RabLab, with experience in medical imaging. He obtained his master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from India.

Eugenie Mamuyac joined the UCSF Dyslexia Center's Multitudes project in September 2021. Now, she primarily works with Dr. Jessica de Leon as a research coordinator and administers the CATS (Cognitive Assessments for Tagalog Speakers) battery.

Prior to UCSF, Eugenie received her master's degree in Asia Pacific Studies at the University of San Francisco. Her research interests include bilingualism and acculturation.

Maria Luisa Mandelli, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center, where she leads the imaging program of the language team (ALBA Lab).

Alyson is a practice coordinator at UCSF’s Memory and Aging Center with over five years of experience. She graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a bachelor’s degree in health science. Her personal interests include baking desserts, listening to K-pop, and watching films of all genres.