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.
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.
Dr. Kiet (Robert) Hua completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior at the University of California, Davis. During his undergraduate studies, he developed a love of research, studying animal behavior. He completed further research training at the University of Houston where he studied drosophila genetics. He completed his Medical Degree (MD) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees at Albany Medical College. His PhD thesis focused on the study of primary cilia and their role in a category of neurodevelopmental disorders known as ciliopathies.
Dr. Manizhe Eslami Amirabadi attended medical school in Yazd, Iran. Passionate about equity in healthcare, she then worked as a family physician for a year in an underserved area of Iran before starting her neurology residency in Tehran. She became interested in cognitive decline in the setting of chronic systemic illnesses and worked with chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients during her residency. She eventually moved to the US to pursue further training in cognitive neurology hoping to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia.
Lily was born and raised in Lanzhou, China. She attended the University of California, San Diego and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Cognitive Science with a specialization in Design and Interaction and a Bachelor of Science degree in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN). At UCSF Memory and Aging Center, she works as a Clinical Research Coordinator who coordinates Mandarin-speaking participants.
Eden received a BS degree in Biological Sciences from UC Irvine and a PhD in Neuroscience from UC Davis. Her doctoral work broadly focused on learning, memory, and synaptic plasticity. Now, as a member of the Boxer Lab, she is interested in facilitating more equitable and inclusive research of neurodegenerative disorders.
Sarah McDonagh supports the Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health and faculty within the Global Brain Health Institute to implement research projects and new grant applications, with a focus on the ReDLat project.
Collin has BS degree in Biological Sciences, with an emphasis in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Merced. He is driven by an inclination for multidisciplinary knowledge and a desire to learn. During his undergraduate study, he worked in the lab of Dr. Betsy Dumont and under the guidance of postdoc Dr. Gregory Mutumi to explore the morphological adaptations of sensory structures within the skulls of bats. His experiences were further enriched by journal club, quantitative systems biology seminars, and his work with diceCT and 3D visualization.
Chris works as a Data Analyst in the Memory and Aging Center under Dr. Kate Possin. Chris collaborates with the TabCAT team and Care Ecosystem project, where he excels in data visualization, statistical modeling, and data management. He works mainly in R and Python.
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.
