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.
Mindy supports the learning environment at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), both online and in the classroom. She is adapting her expertise as a teacher educator from traditional classroom environments for a "flipped" class and remote learning while also supporting faculty to adapt content for this new environment.
Charles Windon, MD, is an assistant professor of clinical neurology at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center. In this role, he participates in the clinical care of those with neurodegenerative disease and also participates in the research evaluations of those referred to the Memory and Aging Center with a multitude of neurological conditions. Charles is also involved in the community outreach program at the MAC, with a particular interest in outreach to underserved communities, especially the African American community within the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dr. David N. Soleimani-Meigooni is a neurologist who cares for patients experiencing cognitive symptoms as a result of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
In research, Soleimani-Meigooni focuses on advancing precision-medicine approaches to diagnosing Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. He looks at using positron emission tomography (PET) to image amyloid-beta and tau (protein fragments that accumulate in the brains of people with the condition).
Gloria Aguirre is an artist and community advocate who joined the Memory and Aging Center in 2019. She is an Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity based at George Washington University in Washington D.C. and serves as Artistic Director of Creative Minds, the San Francisco community arts for brain health initiative, and Community Engagement Manager for the Community Outreach Program at the MAC.
Dr. Staffaroni is a clinical neuropsychologist and Associate Professor at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center. His research focuses on improving early detection, prognosis, and monitoring of neurodegenerative diseases through a combination of clinical tests, neuroimaging, and blood-based biomarkers. He leads studies of remote digital data collection in frontotemporal dementia using smartphone assessments and sensor technologies.
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.
Kailey Mateo is the GBHI Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator based at UCSF. She works with the Monitoring and Evaluation team to provide ongoing support for the monitoring and learning activities of the program and is helping to expand into new arenas, such as evaluating social impact.
Carmen Hart is the Program and Events Manager for the Global Brain Health Institute. She works closely with the Executive Director and GBHI senior staff to coordinate, manage and plan key aspects and activities of GBHI and the Atlantic Fellows program. She brings extensive expertise in event planning, project coordination, marketing and sales in the healthcare, media, technology and luxury hospitality industries. Before joining GBHI, she managed a contact center team at George P.
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.
Bettina Pedemonte completed a PhD degree in mathematics in Italy at Genoa University and a PhD degree in mathematics education in France at Grenoble University. She has experience in teaching mathematics, in particular to students with learning disorders. She designed technological environments to support mathematical learning. Her research interests include understanding cognitive processes involved in solving mathematical problems and finding new teaching methods to support mathematical learning. Bettina joined UCSF in March 2018, specializing in designing a battery for dyscalculia.
