BU ADC Happenings
Welcome
The Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center (BU ADC) welcomes new staff members: Stephanie Sikora, MA, Outreach & Recruitment Coordinator Elana Cook, HOPE Study Psychometrician; Amanda Gentile, MRes, Heart & Brain Aging Study Coordinator; Kristen Huber, PAIRS Program Coordinator and Education & Information Transfer Core Coordinator; Natalie Joffe, HOPE Study Psychometrician and Brain Donation Coordinator; Pallavi Joshi, Research Assistant; Sumati Raghavan, MBBS, MD, Clinical Trials Specialist; and Beverly Young, BU ADC Administrator.
We also extend a warm welcome to our new student trainees: Lyndsay Root, a co-op student from Northeastern working with Dr. Brandon Gavett; Morgan McGillicuddy, a Simmons College student working with the HOPE Study; and Mari Stackpoole, a nurse practitioner student working with the HOPE Study.
Congratulations
The BU ADC would like to congratulate Dr. Robert Stern, Dr. Angela Jefferson, and Dr. Nancy Emerson Lombardo for their recently awarded Investigator Initiated Alzheimer’s Association grants. Dr. Stern’s research will focus on determining driving safety in the elderly, including patients with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Jefferson’s study will investigate the association between heart and brain health in cognitively normal adults and those with mild cognitive impairment. Dr. Nancy Emerson Lombardo’s research will examine the association between nutrition and brain health.
The BU ADC would like to congratulate Dr. Benjamin Wolozin for his recent receipt of two grant awards, including a Retirement Research Foundation grant, “Assessing the potential for angiotensin receptor blockers in prevention and treatment of dementia,” and a National Institute on Aging-funded Exploratory/Developmental (R21) grant, “Suppression of the heat shock response in aging and neurodegeneration.” Dr. John Wells recently received a grant from the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Affairs (VA) Geriatric Research, Educational and Clinical Center Research Post Fund to investigate the role of the progranulin gene in frontotemporal dementia. Dr. Brandon Ally recently received an NIH Career Development (K23) Award, “Using pictures to understand recognition memory in Alzheimer's disease.”
Congratulations to Dr. Anil Nair, who was selected as one of ten members for the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties Examination Committee for Neurology, and to Dr. John Wells, who was appointed to a three year term on the VA Central Institutional Review Board in Washington, D.C., which will oversee multi-site VA-funded research projects.
Goodbyes
Many thanks and best wishes to the BU ADC staff who have recently left to pursue new directions: Melissa Barrup, HOPE Study Psychometrican and Brain Donation Program Coordinator, is completing a nurse practitioner program at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions; Laura Byerly, PAIRS Program Coordinator, is attending medical school at the Oregon Health & Science University; Janet Callaghan, BU ADC clinical trials nurse, is transitioning to a role in the BU General Clinical Research Center; David Essaff, ADNI Study Coordinator, is attending medical school at Western University of the Pacific; Brian Gonzales, HOPE Study Psychometrician, is pursuing a Master’s degree in clinical social work at the University of Denver; Sabrina Poon, Research Assistant, is attending medical school at Vanderbilt University; Erin Whalen, HOPE Study Associate Coordinator, has taken a position at Senior Living Residences; Judy DeCarteret, BU ADC Administrator, is transitioning to a position at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial VA Hospital.
Thank you and best wishes to our recent student trainees, Emily Kahoud and Brittany Alperin, who worked with the HOPE Study; Ravi Kahlon and Jami Johnsen, who completed independent research projects through the BU Medical Student Summer Research Program; and Dr. Laura Eggermont, a neuropsychology post-doctoral trainee.
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