faculty

Dr. Sampognaro majored in neurobiology as an undergrad at Georgetown University. There, he worked as a research assistant in the laboratory of Maria Donoghue, studying the molecular underpinnings of Eph/ephrin signaling and its role in cortical neuronal development. After college, he matriculated to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he earned his MD and worked part-time in Charlotte Sumner’s laboratory, quantifying the degree of SMN1 insufficiency in humans with spinal muscular atrophy.

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).

Serggio Lanata, MD, MS, is a neurologist and clinical researcher dedicated to advancing brain health and improving care for individuals with cognitive impairment and dementia. He serves as the director of the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center Community Outreach Program, which works to educate medically, economically, and educationally disadvantaged populations about brain health and dementia and encourages participation in clinical research.

Renaud La Joie, PhD, is the Edward and Pearl Fein Endowed Professor in Precision Care for Memory Disorders at UCSF. He is a neuroscientist and neuroimaging expert whose research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that drive Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. Using advanced brain imaging techniques, fluid biomarkers, and neuropsychological measures, Dr. La Joie seeks to unravel the drivers of clinical heterogeneity in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.

Dr. Spina received his medical degree from the University of Catania, Italy. He completed a neurology residency at the University of Siena, Italy from which he also obtained his doctorate degree on mechanisms of neurodegeneration. He was trained in neuropathology of dementia syndromes at the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center, Indianapolis in the laboratory of Dr. Bernardino Ghetti. Later, he completed an internship in internal medicine and a neurology residency at Indiana University. Dr.

Jessica de Leon, MD, is an associate professor in the UCSF Department of Neurology at the Weill Institute for Neurosciences and a clinician-researcher at the Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center. She serves as the lead and founder of the Fein Memory and Aging Center Filipino outreach program. Dr.

Dr. Kate Rankin is a professor in the UCSF Department of Neurology who specializes in the neuropsychological, neuroanatomic and genetic underpinnings of human socioemotional behavior in healthy aging and neurodegenerative disease. She studied psychology at Yale for her undergraduate work and received graduate degrees from Fuller School of Psychology in Pasadena, including her PhD degree in clinical psychology and a master’s degree in theology.

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.

Jennifer Yokoyama, PhD, is an associate professor at the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center, where she leads a research program focused on the neurogenetics of aging. Her work focuses on understanding how genetic variation affects brain physiology, cognition, and behavior in older adults, as well as how these factors contribute to vulnerability or resilience to neurodegenerative diseases. Dr.