Director & Principal Investigator
Kristine Yaffe, MD
Professor Kristine Yaffe is the Scola Endowed Chair and the Epstein Chair and Vice Chair, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology, and Director of the Center for Population Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Professor Yaffe is an internationally recognized expert in the epidemiology of dementia and cognitive aging. She serves as PI of almost a dozen NIH, Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, and foundation grants and is a foremost leader in identifying modifiable risk factors for dementia that serve as a foundation for prevention. Dr. Yaffe and her colleagues were the first to determine that potentially 30-40% of dementia risk is preventable. She pioneered early investigations on the roles of estrogen, physical activity, and cardiovascular factors in dementia risk, and more recently, her research group has led work on the connections between Alzheimer disease and other dementias and traumatic brain injury, sleep disorders, and life course exposures. With over 800 peer-reviewed articles dedicated to improving population brain health (H-index=180), her work has formed the cornerstone for dementia prevention trials worldwide. Recently, she and her colleagues completed the first-ever comprehensive risk reduction trial in the US and found important cognitive benefits for those who reduced their risk factors for dementia.
In recognition of these groundbreaking accomplishments. Dr. Yaffe has received several prestigious honors, including the American Academy of Neurology’s Potamkin Prize for Alzheimer’s Research in 2017, election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019, the NIH Robert S. Gordon, Jr. Award in Epidemiology in 2021, and the Department of Veterans Affairs John B. Barnwell Award for Achievement in Clinical Research in 2022.
Faculty
Shea Andrews, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at UCSF in the Department of Psychiatry and a genetic epidemiologist investigating genetic susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease (AD). He uses genetically informed causal inference methods to identify risk factors for AD and also researches the role of mitochondrial genetics in AD.
W. John Boscardin, PhD, is a biostatistician with a joint appointment as Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology & Biostatistics at UCSF. His areas of methodological expertise include analysis of longitudinal and repeated measures data, treatment of missing data, Bayesian statistical modeling, and computational statistics.
Willa Brenowitz, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor at UCSF in the Department of Psychiatry. 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.
Raquel Gardner, MD, is an Associate Professor in Residence at UCSF in the Department of Neurology and a Staff Physician at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Her research focuses on the epidemiology and mechanisms of long-term sequelae of traumatic brain injury in older adults, to improve outcomes in this vulnerable population.
Erica Kornblith, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at UCSF in the Department of Psychiatry and a Staff Neuropsychologist at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Her research focuses on rehabilitating executive function in Veterans with TBI and polytrauma, identifying factors that impact response to cognitive rehabilitation, and using technology to increase access to treatment.
Yue Leng, PhD, is an Associate Professor at UCSF in the Department of Psychiatry. Her research focuses on the epidemiology of sleep, particularly the relationship between sleep, cognition, and other health outcomes.
Affiliated Junior Faculty
Kaitlin Casaletto, PhD, is an Associate Professor at UCSF in the Department of Neurology. Dr. Casaletto’s work focuses on applying novel molecular fluid biomarkers to highlight relevant neurobiological pathways related to resilient aging.
Krista Harrison, PhD, is an Associate Professor at UCSF in the Division of Geriatrics, an Atlantic Senior Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute, and affiliated with the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. Her research focuses on improving systems of care for home-dwelling older adults with dementia and other serious illnesses.
Lauren Hunt, PhD, RN, FNP, is an Associate Professor at UCSF in the Institute for Health Policy Studies. Her research focuses on understanding the geriatric palliative care needs and experiences of older adults with dementia across care settings.
Ashwin Kotwal, MD, is an Associate Professor at UCSF in the Division of Geriatrics. Dr. Kotwal’s research focuses on understanding and enhancing social connections of older adults to improve their quality of life and health care access.
Matthew Growdon, MD, MPH, is a geriatrician and Assistant Professor of Medicine in the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Division of Geriatrics. He is interested in health services research aimed at improving the quality of care for older adults with dementia and cognitive impairment, with an emphasis on improving prescribing practices in this population.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Christina S. Dintica, PhD, is an epidemiologist and postdoctoral fellow at UCSF. Her research focuses on vascular risk factors and subclinical cardiovascular disease markers in relation to cognitive outcomes and neuroimaging patterns of brain aging.
Clémence Cavaillès, PhD, is an epidemiologist and postdoctoral fellow at UCSF. Her research focuses on the relationship between sleep patterns and dementia.
Dillys Xiaodi Liu, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF in the Department of Psychiatry. Her research focuses on sleep, brain health, and machine learning.
Nathaniel Fleming, MD, MS, is an Assistant Professor at the UCSF Weill Institute for Neuroscience. His research focuses on the risk factors for neurodegenerative outcomes.
Michelle Caunca is a physician-scientist in training and PGY-4 in the Department of Neurology at UCSF. She is interested in multilevel predictors of cerebrovascular disease, dementia, and cognitive impairment.
Lab Staff
Amber Bahorik, PhD, leads our data core and provides study design and analytic support.
Kathy Fung, MS, supports our studies focused on dementia risk in Veterans and collaborates on multiple analytic projects.
Tina Hoang, MPH, serves as the Yaffe Lab Manager. Her research with Dr. Yaffe focuses on modifiable risk factors for cognitive aging, including cardiovascular risk, with an emphasis on understanding these relationships over the life course.
Carrie Peltz, PhD, focuses on traumatic brain injury (TBI), dementia, and other military risk factors in Veterans. She also coordinates several clinical studies examining modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.
Alice Roberts, MA, is the Yaffe Lab Research Manager. She oversees Dr. Yaffe's grant portfolio and provides award management for Dr. Yaffe's many NIH, DoD, and foundation grants.
Feng Xia, MPH, leads statistical analyses for several ongoing studies at the Yaffe Lab, including CARDIA and LIMBIC.
Alexa Knuth, DPT, is a Clinical Research Health Educator. Her work focuses on the development and implementation of a risk factor reduction intervention among Veterans living with Traumatic Brain Injury.
Katy Shin, BSH, supports ongoing research projects and the daily coordination of study operations.