People

Kristine Yaffe, MD

Director
Yaffe Lab

Dr. Kristine Yaffe attended Yale University for her undergraduate degree and the University of Pennsylvania for her medical degree. She then completed residencies in both Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Yaffe is the Scola Endowed Chair and Vice Chair, Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology, and Director of the Center for Population Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco.

Amber Bahorik, PhD

Research Project Coordinator
Psychiatry

Amber Bahorik received her PhD in social work from the University of Pittsburgh and completed a
postdoctoral fellowship in substance abuse treatment and research at UCSF and the Kaiser Permanente
Division of Research. She processes data requests for clinical researchers and fellows and manages the
data core for the lab.

Deborah Barnes, PhD

Prof In Residence
Psychiatry

Deborah Barnes, PhD is a Professor at UCSF in the Department of Psychiatry and a Mental Health Research Investigator at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Her research focuses on developing and evaluating strategies to maintain cognitive function and prevent or delay dementia onset in late life. Dr. Barnes also works on developing dementia risk prediction models that can be used to estimate the impact of risk factor reduction and to target prevention strategies toward those who are at greatest risk.

Willa Brenowitz, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor
Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Willa Brenowitz, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry. She received her PhD in epidemiology and MPH in health services from the University of Washington School of Public health. She is broadly interested understanding the role of multimorbidity in cognitive decline; her current research focuses on the relationship between sensory impairments (e.g. hearing and vision loss) and dementia in older adults.

Amy Byers, PhD, MPH

Professor In Residence
Psychiatry

Dr. Byers is Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences with a joint appointment in the Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics. She is an epidemiologist with a background in aging research, methods, and biostatistics. Her research focuses on the epidemiology of late-life mental health and employs advanced epidemiological and biostatistical techniques to determine the incidence, prevalence, risk factors, and outcomes of late-life mental health disorders with the objective of reducing the burden of these disorders by informing long-term clinical care. Dr.

Christina Dintica, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar
Psychiatry

Christina S. Dintica, PhD, received her PhD in medical science with focus on epidemiology of cognitive aging from Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Her postdoctoral work will focus on vascular risk factors and subclinical CVD markers in relation to cognitive outcomes and neuroimaging patterns of brain aging.

Jennifer Eastman

Affiliate

Jennifer Eastman, PhD, earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine where she specialized in clinical neuropsychology. Her research is focused on neuropsychological assessment and neuroimaging of various clinical syndromes to better understand cognitive decline. This includes a special interest in understanding the impact of cancer-related cognitive impairment in older adults.

Raquel Gardner, MD

ASSOC ADJ PROF-FY

Raquel Gardner, MD received her MD from Harvard University. She completed her internship in internal medicine and residency in neurology at UCSF and was a Behavioral Neurology Fellow at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in 2012. Her research focuses on the cognitive and behavioral effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among older adults.

Erica Kornblith, PhD

Assistant Adjunct Professor
Psychiatry

Erica Kornblith, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist with advanced training in neuropsychology, and clinical interests include the assessment and treatment of the cognitive and emotional sequelae of TBI and acquired brain injury. Her research focuses on the rehabilitation of executive function in Veterans with TBI and polytrauma, identifying factors impacting response to cognitive rehabilitation intervention in this population, and using technology to increase access to cognitive rehabilitation, particularly for aging Veterans.

Yue Leng, PhD

Associate Adjunct Professor
Psychiatry

Yue Leng, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry. She received her PhD and MPhil in epidemiology from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on the epidemiology of sleep, particularly the relationship between sleep, cognition and other health outcomes.

Carrie Peltz

Research Assistant

Carrie Peltz received her PhD in cognitive neuroscience with a focus on cognitive aging from the University of Illinois. Her work with Dr. Yaffe focuses on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and dementia in veterans. She also coordinates several clinical studies examining modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.

Alice Roberts

Clinical Research Manager

Alice Roberts received her Master of Arts in anthropology from Florida Atlantic University. She serves as the Yaffe Lab Research Manager and focuses on pre- and post-award management of Dr. Yaffe's grants.

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