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MAC  ADRC Join the Team |
Staff
Physicians & Pharmacists
Links to the PubMed search engine may pull up articles written by other authors. 
Dr. Miller is Professor of Neurology at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) where he holds the A.W. & Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Chair. Dr. Miller is the clinical director of the Memory and Aging Center (MAC) at UCSF, which is funded through the State of California and the Koret Foundation. The busy UCSF dementia center links comprehensive patient evaluations to basic research in neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry, neuroimaging and genetics. Dr. Miller’s goal is the delivery of model care to all of the patients who enter the clinical and research programs at the MAC. Dr. Miller is a behavioral neurologist with a special interest in brain and behavior relationships and has focused his work in the area of dementia. He has many years of experience directing pharmaceutical trials for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and currently directs the UCSF treatment trial for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with quinacrine in conjunction with Drs. Stanley Prusiner and Michael Geschwind. At UCSF, Dr. Miller directs an NIH-funded program project on frontotemporal dementia (FTD) called Frontotemporal Dementia: Genes, Images and Emotions. His work with FTD has emphasized both the behavioral and emotional deficits that characterize these patients, while simultaneously noting the visual creativity that can emerge in the setting of FTD. The recognition that dementia patients have many strengths is a guiding principle of the Memory and Aging Center. Dr. Miller is author of the book The Human Frontal Lobes, and has extensive publications regarding dementia diagnosis and treatment. For nearly two decades, Dr. Miller has been the scientific director for the philanthropic organization The John Douglas French Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease. He is actively involved in patient care at the UCSF clinics and hospital and teaches extensively in the medical school. Dr. Miller runs the Behavioral Neurology Fellowship at UCSF.
Dr. Bonasera received his MD/PhD degrees in 1995 from Emory University. He was supported in this effort through the NIH-sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program. He completed both his Internal Medicine residency and Geriatric fellowship at UCSF and is currently certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics by the American Board of Internal Medicine. At the Memory and Aging Center, Dr. Bonasera evaluates patients with memory or gait problems whose care is complicated by overall frailty or specific functional limitations (such as trouble dressing, bathing, toileting, etc.). He is also an attending physician at Lakeside Senior Medical Center, a UCSF-affiliated primary care practice specializing in geriatric medicine. Dr. Bonasera’s primary research focuses on the basic science of behaviors that complicate moderate to advanced Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias such as psychosis, anxiety, apathy and disinhibition. He recently received support from the Brookdale Foundation to study the role of specific serotonin receptors in the genesis of apathetic and depressed behaviors. Dr. Bonasera is also interested in genetic polymorphism’s contribution to the treatment and course of Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. He has published articles in the Journal of Neurophysiology, Experimental Brain Research, and Pharmacology & Therapeutics.
Dr. Boxer received his MD and PhD degrees as part of the NIH-funded Medical Scientist Training Program at New York University Medical Center. He completed an internship in Internal Medicine at California Pacific Medical Center and a residency in Neurology at Stanford University Medical Center. He completed a fellowship in Behavioral Neurology at UCSF. Dr. Boxer is currently the Vera and John Graziadio Scholar in Alzheimer’s Disease Research and an Assistant Professor of Neurology. As part of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), Dr. Boxer directs studies of new therapeutic agents for Alzheimer’s Disease and oversees the Genetics and Biological Samples cores. He participates in the evaluation and management of patients in the Memory and Aging Clinic and Huntington Disease Clinic at the UCSF MAC. Dr. Boxer’s research uses quantitative eye movement and neuroimaging (MRI, PET and MEG) measurements to study the pathophysiology of cognitive and motor impairments in Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Corticobasal Degeneration. A second line of research involves identifying novel genetic risk factors for neurodegenerative disease using DNA sequencing and other molecular tools. He is the recipient of the 2002 Edwin Boldrey Award from the San Francisco Neurological Society for basic research in neurological disease and the 2005 John Douglas French Foundation Alzheimer’s Award.
Dr. Steven Chao received his MD and PhD degrees at Chicago Medical School with NIH sponsorship. His graduate studies in the laboratory of Dr. Marina Wolf focused on mechanisms of neuronal plasticity. Dr. Chao completed a medical internship at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and a neurology residency at Stanford University Hospital. Dr. Chao is currently a clinical fellow in behavioral neurology at the Memory and Aging Center where he is active in patient evaluation and management. His research interests focus on the early detection and progression of Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and related disorders. He actively participates in our Chinese outreach program seeing patients at San Francisco Chinatown clinics every week.
Dr. De May is a geriatric psychiatrist on staff at the Memory and Aging Center.
Dr. Diamond received his MD from the UCSF School of Medicine in 1993. He completed an internship in internal medicine in the Department of Medicine at UCSF and was a resident in neurology at UCSF from 1994-1997. He was chief resident in 1996-1997. Following residency training, Dr. Diamond completed a basic science fellowship in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, focusing on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in the polyglutamine expansion diseases, which include Spinobulbar Muscular Atrophy (SBMA) and Huntington disease (HD). In 2002 he started his own independent laboratory in the Department of Neurology, located at the UCSF Mission Bay Campus. Dr. Diamond is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology and is an affiliated faculty member of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology. He is also a member of the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging and the Biomedical Sciences Program. He participates in the evaluation and care of patients with Huntington disease and other polyglutamine diseases in the Memory and Aging Center. Dr. Diamond’s clinical research interests focus on the interplay of an individual’s genetic background with the progression and characteristics of HD and the development of better quantitative measures of disease and disease progression. His basic research concerns identification of cellular mechanisms that control the toxicity of abnormal proteins related to HD and SBMA and the development of new therapies based on these mechanisms.
Ron Finley received his Bachelor of Sciences in Pharmacy at St. Louis College of Pharmacy and is a Registered Pharmacist. For the past fourteen years, he has served as a clinical pharmacist with the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, formerly named the UCSF Alzheimer’s Center. Mr. Finley collaborates with the medical members of the team to evaluate and consult on drug therapy, frequently conducts medication history interviews with patients and/or caregivers, and meets with patients to discuss and answer questions regarding traditional and nontraditional medications. Mr. Finley is a Consultant Pharmacist at the Institute on Aging’s On Lok-Senior Health program and the Institute on Aging Alzheimer’s Day Care Program. He is Co-Chair of Pharmacy Practice at the California Geriatric Education Center. He is also a Lecturer in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at UCSF. Mr. Finley has a strong interest in geriatric drug therapy, medications for dementia and psychiatric conditions associated with dementia.
Dr. Gazzaley received his MD and PhD degrees in Neuroscience through the NIH-sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. His doctoral research focused on the plasticity of NMDA receptors and its implications for cognitive changes in normal aging. This research earned him the 1997 Krieg Cortical Scholar Award. Dr. Gazzaley then went on to complete an internship in Internal Medicine and residency in Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Gazzaley evaluates patients with memory and attention disorders at the Memory and Aging Center and integrates this work with his scientific research at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. His current research program utilizes both functional MRI (fMRI) and event-related potentials (ERP) to study the neural mechanisms of attention and memory, alterations that occur during normal aging and the influence of neurotransmitter systems.
Dr. Geschwind received his MD and PhD in neuroscience through the National Institutes of Health-sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He completed his internship in internal medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, his neurology residency at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and his fellowship in behavioral neurology at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center (MAC). He has been an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Memory and Aging Center since 2003. Dr. Geschwind evaluates patients in the MAC new patient clinic and participates in the management and care for these patients in the MAC continuity clinic. He is active in the training of medical students and residents at UCSF. Dr. Geschwind teaches a national course and lectures, both nationally and internationally, on the Assessment of Rapidly Progressive Dementias, including human prion diseases. Dr. Geschwind's primary research interest is the assessment and treatment of rapidly progressive dementias, including prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Dr. Geschwind helped establish an inpatient hospital program for the assessment of rapidly progressive dementias at UCSF, one of the first of its kind in the country. He is currently running the first ever US treatment study for CJD. He also has an active research interest in cognitive dysfunction in movement disorders, such as Huntington's disease, Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD), Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) and other Parkinsonian dementias.
Dr. Gorno-Tempini obtained her medical degree and clinical specialty training in neurology in Italy. Her main focus was in behavioral neurology, particularly the neural basis of higher cognitive functions such as language and memory. To pursue this research she worked for three years at the Function Imaging Laboratory, University College London, where she obtained her PhD in imaging neuroscience. She was part of the language group and her thesis work consisted of several Positron Emission Tomography and functional MRI studies investigating the neural basis of face and proper name processing. She came to the Memory and Aging Center at UCSF in 2001 and her main research project concerns progressive aphasia. Her goal is to combine neuropsychological and imaging techniques to characterize the various language deficits that can be early symptoms of different forms of dementia.
Dr. Aimee Kao received her MD and PhD degrees from the University of Iowa School of Medicine. She then completed an internship in Internal Medicine at the Beth Israel-Deaconess Hospital in Boston and a residency in Neurology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) where she was Chief Resident. Dr. Kao’s PhD work focused on trafficking of the insulin receptor. Dr. Kao is currently a Clinical Fellow in behavioral neurology at the Memory and Aging Center where she participates in patient evaluation and management. Her current research interests include the molecular pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases, with a particular interest in Parkinson’s-related dementias including multiple system atrophy, corticobasal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy and dementia with Lewy Bodies. Following her clinical fellowship, she has received a Hillblom Fellowship to study the role of aging in the development of neurodegenerative diseases in the laboratory of Dr. Cynthia Kenyon.
Dr. Geoffrey Kerchner received his MD and PhD degrees at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, through the NIH sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program. His thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Min Zhuo focused on mechanisms of synaptic plasticity. Dr. Kerchner completed his medical internship and neurology residency at UCSF, where he served as co-chief resident in his final year. Dr. Kerchner evaluates and treats patients at the Memory and Aging Center. He is also an attending in the Department of Neurology, where he supervises residents and teaches medical students. He recently completed a basic science research fellowship with Dr. Roger Nicoll in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, where he pursued work relating to glutamate receptor trafficking and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. Current research projects at the MAC include work related to early detection of dementia and anatomical correlates between advanced neuroimaging and neuropsychological testing.
Born and raised in Jerusalem, Dr. Rabinovici received his MD from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. He completed an internship in internal medicine at Stanford University, neurology residency at UCSF and a behavioral neurology fellowship at the Memory and Aging Center. As an attending physician at the Memory and Aging Center, Dr. Rabinovici participates in patient evaluations and management and in medical student and resident training. His research focuses on how structural, functional and molecular brain imaging techniques can be used to improve diagnostic accuracy in dementia and the biology of neurodegenerative diseases. He is the recipient of a fellowship award from the John Douglas French Alzheimer's Foundation, the Kathryn Grupe Award for Excellence in Alzheimer's Research from the Alzheimer's Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada, and the Henry Newman Award for Research in Clinical Neurology from the San Francisco Neurological Society. His current work is supported by a New Investigator Award from the Alzheimer's Association.
Dr. Roberson received his MD and PhD degrees from Baylor College of Medicine, where he studied molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. After an internship at Baylor, he came to UCSF for his Residency in Neurology. He was Chief Resident at UCSF and then entered the Behavioral Neurology Fellowship at the Memory and Aging Center. He is currently an assistant professor of neurology at UCSF. When he is not seeing patients, Dr. Roberson works at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease doing basic research on Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. His research focuses on the tau protein, which is implicated in both diseases.
Dr. Rosen received his MD from Boston University School of Medicine, trained in internal medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and subsequently completed a neurology residency at UCSF. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Neurology. After residency, Dr. Rosen pursued fellowship training in brain imaging at the Washington University School of Medicine, and then returned to UCSF to join the team at the Memory and Aging Center in 1999. Dr. Rosen participates in the evaluation of new patients in the MAC clinic as well as the continued management of care for some of these individuals in the continuity clinic. As part of the MAC and the UCSF Department of Neurology, he participates in the training of medical students, residents and fellows. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, Dr. Rosen maintains an active research program. His primary area of interest is in the organization of the emotional systems in the brain and how these systems are affected in different forms of dementia. His research combines methods of assessing emotional function in the brain with brain imaging in both patients and cognitively normal individuals.
Dr. Seeley received his MD from the UCSF School of Medicine. He then completed an internship in Internal Medicine at UCSF and a residency in Neurology at the Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals in Boston. He is currently an Instructor in Neurology at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, where he participates in patient evaluation and management. Dr. Seeley’s research concerns regional vulnerability in dementia, that is, why particular dementias target specific neuronal populations. Dr. Seeley addresses this question through behavioral, functional imaging and neuropathology studies. The goal of his research is to determine what makes brain tissues susceptible or resistant to degeneration, with an eye toward ultimately translating these findings into novel treatment approaches.
Dr. Huidy Shu received his MD and PhD degrees through the NIH sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program at UCLA. His graduate studies in the laboratory of Dr. Larry Zipursky focused on mechanisms of neuronal connectivity. Dr. Shu completed a medical internship at the UCLA San Fernando Valley Program and a neurology residency at UCSF, serving as co-chief resident in his final year. Dr. Shu is currently a clinical fellow in behavioral neurology at the Memory and Aging Center where he is active in patient evaluation and management. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of synaptic dysfunction and degeneration in animal models of Alzheimer’s Disease, frontotemporal dementia, and related disorders. When he is not seeing patients, he is pursuing this research in the laboratory of Dr. Graeme Davis at the UCSF Mission Bay Campus.
Dr. Victor Valcour is a Neurobehavioral fellow at the Memory and Aging Center at UCSF, an Adjunct Clinical Instructor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, and an Associate Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. He completed his medical training at the University of Vermont where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society. He completed Internal Medicine residency at St. Joseph Hospital in Denver, Colorado and Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii. Dr. Valcour’s main research interest is neurocognition in aging HIV patients. He also completes neuroAIDS research in Bangkok, Thailand.
Dr. Keith Vossel received his MSc in biomedical engineering and MD at the University of Tennessee, Memphis. He completed a medical internship at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a neurology residency at the Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's Hospitals, Partners Residency Training Program, where he served his final year as chief resident. Dr. Vossel is currently a clinical fellow in behavioral neurology at the Memory and Aging Center. His clinical research investigates potential genetic modifiers for frontotemporal dementia. In addition to caring for patients, Dr. Vossel is working in the laboratory of Dr. Lennart Mucke at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease, where he studies Alzheimer's disease and related neurodegenerative diseases using transgenic mouse models and neural cultures.
Dr. Woolley received his Bachelor of Science degree from Brown University. Following graduation, he was awarded a Fullbright Scholarship at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. During this year, he studied the neurophysiology of the isolated lamprey (a primitive fish) spinal cord. After returning to the United States, he received his MD and PhD in neuroscience from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) where he studied the neural substrates of deliciousness and palatability driven choice in animals and human subjects. He is currently a resident in psychiatry at UCSF. Dr. Woolley’s current scientific interests include how disruption of neural circuits in dementia leads to altered eating and choice behaviors as well as the hormonal and metabolic changes that occur in dementia. To investigate these issues, he directs a quantitative, prospective, laboratory-based study of feeding behavior and feeding-related hormonal disturbances in dementia at the Memory and Aging Center.
Dr. Yaffe received her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed residency training in both neurology and psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She then completed a fellowship in Clinical Epidemiology and Geriatric Psychiatry also at UCSF. Dr. Yaffe is a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology and Epidemiology at UCSF. She is also Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry and Director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. In both her research and in her clinical work, she has directed her efforts towards improving the care of patients with cognitive disorders and other geriatric neuropsychiatric conditions. Dr. Yaffe’s research has focused on the predictors of cognitive decline and dementia in older adults. She is particularly interested in identifying novel strategies to prevent cognitive decline. One of her research focuses is examining how estrogen and other hormones influence cognitive function. Dr. Yaffe is also focusing on multi-ethnic populations of elders in order to determine if identified predictors of cognitive decline vary amongst different ethnic groups. Her work has been published in numerous prestigious journals including the Lancet, JAMA, and The New England Journal of Medicine. |
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