Director & Principal Investigator
Kristine Yaffe, MD
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, Epstein Endowed Chair, Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology, and Director of the Center for Population Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco. In her research, clinical work, and mentoring, she has directed her efforts towards improving the care of patients with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
Dr. 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 the foremost leader in identifying modifiable risk factors for dementia. Dr. Yaffe and colleagues were the first to determine that potentially 30% 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 traumatic brain injury and risk of developing dementia and other neurodegenerative outcomes as well as on sleep as a risk factor and on life course exposures. With nearly 700 peer-reviewed articles dedicated to improving population brain health (H-index=167), her transformative research bridges neurology, psychiatry, and epidemiology and has formed the cornerstone for dementia prevention trials worldwide. In recognition of her groundbreaking work, Dr. Yaffe was awarded the Potamkin Prize for Alzheimer’s Research in 2017, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019, and received 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.
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.
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, with the goal of improving 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.
Alexandra Lee, PhD, MSPH is an Assistant Professor at UCSF in the Division of Geriatrics. Dr. Lee studies diabetes in aging populations in order to inform and improve clinical decision-making. Her research aims to develop metrics to guide diabetes treatment decisions.
Yue Leng, PhD is an Assistant 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.
Eric Vittinghoff, PhD is a Professor at UCSF in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics. His work focuses on cognitive function and aging, women’s health, cardiovascular disease, and HIV.
Affiliated Junior Faculty
Katrina Abuabara, MD is an Associate Professor at UCSF in the Division of Dermatology. Dr. Abuabara studies the impact of inflammatory skin disease on overall health and the role of the skin in the aging process. Her interdisciplinary approach combines genomic, physiological, environmental, and psychosocial variables to understand patient outcomes over time.
Kaitlin Casaletto, PhD is an Assistant 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 Assistant Professor at UCSF in the Department of Physiological Nursing and an Atlantic Senior Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute. Her research focuses on hospice and end-of-life care for older adults with dementia.
Ashwin Kotwal, MD is an Assistant 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
Meredith Bock, MD is a board certified neurologist and movement disorder specialist. She is a research fellow at the San Francisco VA's Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) and UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. Her research focuses on the intersection of movement and cognitive disorders, with an emphasis on cognitive changes associated with Parkinson's disease and related conditions.
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.
Xiaqing Jiang, PhD, MPH is a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF in the Department of Psychiatry. Her research focuses on cardiovascular risk factors, multiple chronic conditions, and cognitive decline.
Michele Diaz Nelson, RN, MS is a Clinical Nurse Specialist and a second-year Interprofessional Polytrauma and TBI Research Fellow at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. Michele’s research interests include exploring post-TBI health-related quality of life and how access to care, support, and ongoing rehabilitation may improve outcomes among older adults.
Affiliated Postdoctoral Researchers
Rabia Khalaila, BSN, MPH, MBA, PhD is an academic nurse, gerontologist and an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute. His research focuses on how existing data on cognitive reserve can be leveraged at the municipal level to improve and promote services for the older population.
Tanisha Jarrett-Hill, PhD is a clinical neuropsychologist and an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute. Her research focuses on the effects of psychosocial stress on the cognitive function of older Black adults, and the role of coping mechanisms in moderating this stress-cognition relationship.
Student Trainees
Nathaniel Fleming, MD, MS is a neurology resident at the UCSF Weill Institute for Neuroscience. His research focuses on the risk factors for neurodegenerative outcomes.
Erin Ferguson, MPH is a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF. Erin is interested in examining early risk factors and comorbidities of cognitive decline and dementia with the aim of improving patient care.
Masayuki Teramoto, MD, MPH is a physician-scientist in cardiovascular prevention and a MAS student at UCSF in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics. His research focuses on cardiovascular risk factors, atherosclerosis, and cognitive decline.
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.
George Schroeder is a Server & Analytics Administrator for Northern California Institute for Research and Education and San Francisco VA. He maintains the Yaffe Lab databases and servers.
Tamar Simone provides research support and assists in the daily coordination of study operations.
Feng Xia, MPH leads statistical analyses for several ongoing studies at the Yaffe Lab, including CARDIA and LIMBIC.
Julia Park Cheunkarndee provides research support and assists in the daily coordination of study operations.