I have been interested in learning and memory, with a focus on aging since 1990 as a graduate student in Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Toronto where I played a part in developing novel cognitive tasks to assess brain aging in an animal model of Alzheimer disease. These early studies in cognition formed the foundation for my current research program that subsequently developed at UCI, which is to characterize aging and the development of Alzheimer disease in people with Down syndrome. Through clinical longitudinal studies that were subsequently initiated at the University of Kentucky with a cohort of people with Down syndrome, my team links aging to changes in learning, memory and executive function to biomarker outcomes such as neuroimaging. Coupled with basic science research examining various molecular pathways engaged in the aging and Alzheimer disease process through autopsy studies, my lab seeks to identify targets for interventions that may improve cognition. I am delighted to have returned to UCI to continue to build my research program.

Clinical and neuropathological study of aging and Alzheimer disease in Down syndrome, preclinical studies in an animal model of Alzheimer disease, cerebrovascular dysfunction and neuroinflammation