Maria Aparecida Camargos Bicalho, MD, MSc, PhD
Professor at faculty of medicine and vice coordinator of the Geriatric Service of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil
Maria Aparecida Camargos Bicalho, MD, MSc, PhD, is a visiting researcher at Dr Alfredo Ramirez Laboratory in Cologne, Germany since in 2022, studying Genetic architecture of Alzheimer’s disease in Brazilian older adults. Her research areas include aging, dementia, genetics of Alzheimer’s disease, and mild cognitive impairment.
Maria Carolina Dalmasso, PhD
Associate professor of neuroscience and complex systems unit at the Hospital El Cruce, Argentina
Maria Carolina Dalmasso, PhD, leads the genetic analysis of the Alzheimer’s Genetics in Argentina – Alzheimer Argentina (AGA-ALZAR) consortium, the first study on genetics of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease in the country. In 2017, she received a Georg Forster Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to work at the Clinical Hospital of Cologne, Germany. Currently, Dr. Dalmasso coordinates a study on genetic risk and neuroimaging associated to cognitive decline and dementia in a population that lives in conditions of socio-economic vulnerability in Argentina, an upper-middle-income country.
Nkouonlack Cyrille, MD, DES
Lecturer in neurology at the Faculty of Health Sciences in the University of Buea (UB), Cameroon
Nkouonlack Cyrille, MD, DES, is also a Consultant Neurologist and Head of the Internal Medicine department at the Regional Hospital Buea, South-West Region, Cameroon, and is a clinical researcher at the Brain Research Africa Initiative (BRAIN) www.brainafrica.org, where he doubles as the focal point for BRAIN activities at the University of Buea, within the framework of the BRAIN-UB collaboration.
After obtaining the MD degree with distinction from The University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon, Dr. Nkouonlack continued residency training in Internal Medicine and Neurology and was awarded the Specialist Diploma in Neurology. He then did an additional one-year training in Vascular Neurology, earning a Diploma of specialized training in neurology from the Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France. He has done other short courses, including a certification in public health from the People’s Open Access Educational Initiative – Peoples-uni.
Dr. Nkouonlack will be serving as one of the research officers at BRAIN for the “Recruitment and Retention for Alzheimer`s Disease Diversity Genetic Cohorts in the ASDP (READ-ADSP) Project for the Cameroon site. He is also a member of the Alzheimer’s Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment (ISTAART).
Hector M. González, PhD
Professor of neurosciences in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego
Dr. González is a population neuroscientist and the Principal Investigator of the Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging (SOL-INCA), which is the largest study of cognitive aging, impairment, and disorders among diverse Latinos in the United States.
David Irwin, MD
Co-director of the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center and Lewy body dementia Research Center of Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
David Irwin, MD, is also the PI of the Penn Digital Neuropathology Lab. Dr. Irwin has dual training in cognitive neurology and neuropathology and his lab focuses on integrating human brain histopathology and molecular techniques with imaging methods to discover therapeutic targets and develop tissue-sensitive biomarkers to facilitate clinical trials for emerging therapies for LBD, FTD, AD and related disorders
Edward B. Lee, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Co-Director of the Institute on Aging, Associate Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania
Edward B. Lee, MD, PhD, leads the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research Brain Bank which encompasses the Penn Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Neuropathology Core, the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center Neuropathology and Genetics Core, the Penn U19 Center on Alpha-synuclein Strains in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Neuropathology, Biomarkers and Genetics Core, and the international CONNECT-TBI Consortium Brain Bank Core. In addition to his expertise in neurodegenerative diseases, Dr. Lee is an attending physician as a diagnostic neuropathologist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where he encounters the full spectrum of neurologic disease including brain tumors and muscle/nerve diseases.
He has published ~180 peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals such as Science, Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Methods, Neuron, PNAS, Brain, Acta Neuropathologica, and others. He has obtained numerous grants from the NIH and various foundations including a Clinical Scientists Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Edward has served on multiple study sections for the NIH and the DoD, and is on the editorial board of Acta Neuropathologica, Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology, Free Neuropathology, and JNEN. He has also received multiple awards and honors including the Experimental Pathologist in Training Award from ASIP, the Excellence-In-Science award from ASIP, multiple Terry Awards and the Weil award from AANP, and a Young Physician-Scientist award from ASCI. Edward is dedicated to educating the next-generation of neuroscientists and physician-scientists with service on ~45 thesis committees, the Neuroscience Graduate Group Academic Review Committee, the Neuropathology Clinical Competency Committee as chair, the Clinical Neuroscience Training Program Advisory Board, and the MSTP Core Admissions Committee, in addition to being the course director for a national, R13-funded career development workshop for neuropathology trainees. Edward’s vision is to promote interactions across basic, translational, clinical and educational domains to better our fundamental understanding of aging as the basis for discovering novel therapeutics and diagnostics for aging-related diseases.
Gladys E. Maestre, MD, PhD
Director of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center
Gladys Maestre, MD, PhD is a physician-scientist of Venezuelan origin, now a Professor at the Department of Neuroscience and Human Genetics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Dr. Maestre is the Director of the Rio Grande Valley Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research and Co-Director of the South Texas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center; the National Institute of Aging of the National Institutes of Health funds both Centers. She leads the Maracaibo Aging Study – a study of dementia and other age-related health problems that has followed more than 2,500 subjects since 1998. She continues to build and improve neuroscience research and education in low and middle-income countries.
Alfred K. NJAMNSHI, MD, MA, DMS, FMH, FCAS
The University of Yaoundé, Cameroon
Alfred K. Njamnshi, MD, MA, DMS, FMH, FCAS, is a physician-scientist, professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of The University of Yaoundé I (Cameroon), where he heads the Neuroscience Laboratory he founded and chairs the neurology and neuroscience training programmes. Dr. Njamnshi is also Chief of Neurology at the Yaoundé Central Hospital Department of Clinical Neuroscience (university teaching hospital), the base of his clinical practice and training of students and residents. He obtained his MD from the University Centre for Health Sciences (CUSS), University of Yaoundé, Cameroon and is Swiss-Board Certified (FMH) in Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology as well as holder an MA in education (medical education) from the UK. He is fellow of the Cameroon Academy of Science
Dr. Njamnshi is Founder and Executive Director of Brain Research Africa Initiative (BRAIN) (www.brainafrica.org) with the vision, mission and passion of promoting neuroscience research, brain health and development in Africa; also, President of the Society of Cameroonian Neurologists (SCAN) and Delegate to the World Federation (WFN) of Neurology Council of Delegates. He is WFN’s emeritus Regional Director for Africa and Past President of the Pan African Association of Neurological Sciences (PAANS) as well as Founding member and Past-Vice President of the African Academy of Neurology (AFAN).
He has published more than a hundred and sixty papers on neuroscience and neurology in high impact peer-reviewed journals as well as several book chapters including one on “Stigma in neurological diseases in the tropics” in Neglected Diseases and Conditions of the Nervous System”. His current research interests are in basic, clinical and translational neuroscience, focusing on the interplay between sleep, cognition and the environment.
Mónica Rivera Mindt, PhD, ABPP
Fordham University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Dr. Mónica Rivera Mindt, PhD, ABPP, is a board-certified neuropsychologist, Past-President of the Hispanic Neuropsychological Society and a tenured Professor of Psychology, Latinx Studies, and African & African American Studies at Fordham University with a joint appointment in Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her multidisciplinary, community-based research is funded by the NIH/National Institute of Aging (NIA), the Alzheimer’s Association, NSF, and Genentech. Her work primarily focuses on the intersection between cultural neuroscience and health inequities in cognitive aging. Her current studies are examining genetic, cerebrovascular, and sociocultural risk factors for cognitive impairment and dementia in ethnoculturally diverse populations, as well as ways to increase diverse representation in cognitive aging and dementia research. She has authored more than 100+ peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. In addition, she is Co-Lead of the NIA-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative’s (ADNI) Engagement Core. At the national level, Dr. Rivera Mindt recently served as Chair of NIH/NIA’s AGCD-4 Study Section, and is a member of the CDC’s BOLD Public Health Center of Excellence on Dementia Risk Reduction Expert Panel, and the CDC/National Alzheimer’s Project Act’s (NAPA) Physical Activity, Tobacco Use, and Alcohol Workgroup. Locally, she serves as a Board Member for the Alzheimer’s Association’s NYC Chapter and a Treasurer for the Harlem Community & Academic Partnership (HCAP). As a bilingual (Spanish/English), Afro-Latinx/Indigenous neuroscientist, she brings a unique perspective to her research and is the recipient of several awards for her research, teaching, and contributions to the field, including the 2020 Martha Bernal Award for the Advancement of Diversity Training and Education in Clinical Psychology from the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology (CUDCP) and 2019 Hispanic Health Leadership Award from the National Hispanic Medical Association. She is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 40, Society for Clinical Neuropsychology), the National Academy of Neuropsychology, and Hispanic Neuropsychological Society.
Mónica Rosselli, PhD
Professor of neuropsychology and Associate Chair of the Department of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University, Davie, Florida, and director of the FAU Neuropsychology Laboratory
Mónica Rosselli, PhD, has been particularly interested in analyzing cognitive and brain differences among culturally diverse populations. Her research focuses on the neuropsychology of normal and abnormal aging, as well as the influence of cultural and educational factors on cognitive test performance and brain biomarkers in mild cognitive impairment and dementia. She has also studied the contribution of bilingualism to cognitive and brain reserve in the aging brain of Latino adults. More recently, Dr. Rosselli has explored the association between driving skills and cognitive abilities of a predominantly executive function for a longitudinal study of typical and atypical aging sponsored by the National Institute on Aging. She has developed several neuropsychological tests for Spanish-speaking individuals and has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles investigating cross-cultural neuropsychology. Dr. Rosselli is also an investigator at the 1FLORIDA Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, which is supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Florida Department of Health. She has received a lifetime achievement award from the Hispanic Neuropsychological Society and is the President-Elect of the Asociación Latinoamericana de Neuropsychología.
Kiran K Solingapuram Sai, PhD
Wake Forest School of Medicine
Kiran K Solingapuram Sai, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Radiology (tenured), Director of the Radiopharmaceutical Production and Cyclotron Operation programs, and Leader for the PET radiotracer development for the ADRC Imaging Core at the Atrium Wake Forest School of Medicine. He obtained his PhD in Organic chemistry from Northern Illinois University from Dr. Klumpp’ s lab and finished his post-doctoral fellowship in Molecular Imaging and Radiochemistry from Washington University in St. Louis from Dr. Mach’s lab.
At Wake Forest, Dr. Solingapuram’ s research focusses on developing novel PET radiotracers for diagnostic and therapeutic applications of neurological disorders. He is an NIH funded investigator on evaluating the first brain-penetrant microtubule PET radiotracer in animal models of AD and currently working on translating it to clinical pipeline. He has published ~56 papers, 3 patent applications, 6 book chapters, and serves as an executive board member in several SNMMI committees.
Donna M. Wilcock, PhD
Professor in the department of physiology and associate director of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky
Donna M. Wilcock, PhD, received her Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacology from Cardiff University. She obtained her Ph.D. at the University of South Florida, and completed postdoctoral training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Duke University. Her research is focused on vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID), a common cause of dementia and frequent co-morbidity with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology. She is performing translational research on VCID and AD, ranging from studying molecular mechanisms through identification of novel biomarkers in patients. She is primarily focused on inflammatory and angiogenic processes, as well as studying the influence VCID has on the progression and severity of Alzheimer’s disease. Her work is funded by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke.