Nihar Patel joined the Memory and Aging Center in April 2012. He is the research coordinator for the Aging and Cognitive Decline project, which is a longitudinal study that aims at identifying the cognitive mechanisms and neural structures that underlie the decline in executive functioning observed in normal aging.
Dr. Dubal received her MD and PhD degrees from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. Her graduate research with Dr. Phyllis Wise focused on effects of hormones on stroke injury. Dr. Dubal completed a medical internship and neurology residency at UCSF, where she also served as chief resident. She then trained with Drs. Lennart Mucke and Bruce Miller, who shared the 2011 Potamkin Prize in Neurodegeneration. Dr. Dubal is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at UCSF and directs the Laboratory of Neuroscience and Aging research. Her laboratory's research focus is on how to slow or block aging to prevent diseases of the aging brain, such as Alzheimer's. She is a recipient of the Paul Beeson Career Development Award through the NIA and American Federation for Aging Research.
Information on Dr. Dubal's Laboratory for Neuroscience and Aging Research can be accessed at www.duballab.org.
Dr. Georges Naasan received his medical degree from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. He completed an internship in medicine and a residency in neurology at Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals of Cleveland. He joined the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in 2011 where he is a Clinical Instructor and a Behavioral Neurology Fellow.
As a neurologist, Dr. Naasan evaluates patients and research participants with various neurodegenerative disorders through a multidisciplinary approach and provides follow-up care. He is particularly interested in the psychotic manifestations of neurodegenerative diseases such as hallucinations and delusions. During his residency, he used functional MRI imaging techniques to study the anatomy of misidentification delusions such as the Capgras syndrome.
Richard graduated from Exeter University (UK) in 2004 with a first class BSc (Hons) in psychology and from the University of Bristol (UK) in 2006 with an MSc (Distinction) in neuropsychology. He received his PhD from the University of Manchester (UK) studying the role of the anterior temporal lobe in semantic cognition. This made use of a number of methodologies including structural and functional imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging tractography and transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Richard joined the Memory and Aging Center in Early 2012. He is a post-doctoral neuroimaging scientist working with Dr. Howard Rosen on the Neuroimaging in Frontotemporal Dementia project. This is a longitudinal study aimed at determining which imaging modalities and biomarkers help predict the onset and monitor the progression of neurodegenerative disease.
Kristen Klepac graduated from Dartmouth College in 2010 with a degree in neuroscience. As an undergraduate, Kristen was a student researcher in the Dartmouth Psychological and Brain Sciences department, as well as a summer intern at the NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). She wrote her senior thesis on behavioral and neural models of executive control and decision making in the Dartmouth College Kralik Lab. After graduating, Kristen completed a post-baccalaureate premedical program at Johns Hopkins University, where she also worked in the Johns Hopkins Neurology Sumner Lab, assisting with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) research.
Alex graduated from UC Berkeley in 2011 with BA degrees in cognitive science and psychology. During his undergraduate career he volunteered in the Matthew Walker Sleep & Neuroimaging Lab, specializing in EEG and fMRI studies on sleep’s relationship to emotional processing. He also volunteered in UC Berkeley Phonology Lab where he helped investigate phonetically-motivated differences in speech perception. During his time at Cal he also served as a Director’s Assistant in the Cal Band, arranging music for the drumline.
Alex joined the Memory and Aging Center in July 2011 as a research assistant for the Hillblom Aging Network, a longitudinal study of what constitutes normal aging and what early cognitive declines are associated with neurodegenerative disease. He also coordinates Dr. Keith Vossel’s study on the relationship between neurodegenerative diseases and epilepsy.
In his free time during the fall, Alex can be found firmly planted in front of his TV watching college football. During any other season you might find him attending concerts around the bay area, trying out a new restaurant, or taking a trip to somewhere new.
Gigi Satris graduated from Willamette University in 2008 with a BA degree in psychology. Following graduation and a year of teaching English in Spain, Gigi enrolled in the international master program Neuroscience & Cognition at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. During her master’s Gigi completed two internships; the first at Utrecht University which utilized eye tracking in order to investigate the role of attention in synesthesia and the second at the Gazzaley Lab at UCSF where fMRI, EEG, and TMS were administered in order to study top-down modulation during a selective attention, working memory task. In April 2011 Gigi’s first internship report was published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition. Gigi is interested in combining her research experience with clinical work and joined the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in 2011 as the Huntington’s disease research coordinator.
Andrew joined the Seeley Selective Vulnerability Research Laboratory in June 2011 as an Imaging Research Associate. He graduated from Pomona College in 2009 with a bachelor of arts degree in cognitive science. Andrew comes to the UCSF Memory and Aging Center (MAC) after having completed a two year apprenticeship at Stanford University where he worked on neuroimaging projects related to reward processing. Andrew assists with fMRI data collection and analysis across multiple projects including the Autonomics study.
Alissa joined the Seeley Selective Vulnerability Research Laboratory in 2011 as a post-doctoral fellow. Her background is in neurodegeneration research. Alissa completed a BSc degree with honors in biomedical science in 2004 and a PhD degree in anatomy in 2009 from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where she investigated the variable pattern of cortical neuronal loss in Huntington’s disease. In the Seeley lab she is investigating the selective vulnerability of von Economo neurons (VENs) in frontotemporal dementia.
