The Shiley-Marcos ADRC’s multidisciplinary team includes:
Edward H. Koo, M.D., Professor, Department of Neurosciences; Associate Director of the ADRC. Joined the ADRC in 1996. Medical Degree: 1980 Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina. Completed neurology residency at University of California, San Francisco. Field of Interest: cell and molecular biology of AD and neurodegeneration, mechanisms of neuronal and synaptic damage, and translation medicine in AD therapeutics.
Jody Corey-Bloom M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Professor, Department of Neurosciences. Joined the ADRC in 1990. Medical Degree: 1986 UCSD School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA. Field of Interest: clinical research pertaining to Alzheimer’s disease and neurological disorders in the elderly.
Douglas R. Galasko, M.D., Professor in Residence, Department of Neurosciences. Joined the ADRC in 1987. Medical Degree: 1979 Johannesburg General Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa. Field of interest: Clinical research pertaining to Alzheimer’s disease and neurological problems associated with aging.
Robert Katzman, M.D., Professor Emeritus in Neurosciences, founder of the ADRC in 1984. Medical Degree: 1953 Harvard Medical School. Field of Interest: epidemiology.
John M. Olichney, M.D., Associate Professor of Neurosciences. Joined the ADRC in 1993. Medical Degree: 1988 University of California, Irvine, CA. Field of Interest: Cognitive Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies of Alzheimer's disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and other disorders of memory and language; the effects of Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy and Apolipoprotein E4 in Alzheimer's disease.
Mark Tuszynski, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neurosciences. Joined the ADRC in 1991. Medical Degree: 1983 University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. Field of Interest: trophic factor effects on neurons in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease, clinical trials of cholinergic agonists in Alzheimer’s disease, gene therapy, nervous system growth factors, and spinal cord injury.
Gang Tong, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neurosciences. Joined the ADRC in July of 2000. Medical Degree: Shanghai, Ph.D. at Oregon Health Sciences University. Field of Interest: cellular and genetic mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, synaptic transmission, and clinical trials for AD.
Roy Yaari, M.D., Neurology Fellow. Joined the ADRC in 2004. Neurology residency completed at UCSD. Medical Degree: Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Jim Brewer, M.D. Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neurosciences. Joined the ADRC in 2004. Medical Degree: Stanford University. Field of interest: structural and functional brain changes in early Alzheimer’s disease.
Deborah Olasin Fontaine, M.S, G.N.P., is a B.S.N. graduate of Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA. After practicing in Philadelphia for several years, she attended Boston University. There she became a Nurse Practitioner and received her M.S. in Gerontology. She is AMA certified and has, since joining the ADRC in 1992, concentrated on working with AD, Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.
Susan M. Frye, N.P., certified by the ANA, has worked at the ADRC since 1992. She earned her B.S.N. & M.S. in Nursing from the University of Delaware and B.S. (in Neurobiology and Behavior) from Cornell University.
Judith A. Rivera, N.P., certified Family Nurse Practitioner, has worked at the ADRC since 1997. She received her B.S.N. in Nursing from San Diego State University, and M.S.N. from University of San Diego. Bilingual/bicultural and fluent in Spanish, Judith has more than 10 years of experience in nursing and assisting research patients and families in San Diego.
Helen Vanderswag, earned an Associate degree at Palomar College and B.A. from the University of Phoenix . She joined the ADRC in 2002. In her 22 years of nursing experience she has worked in psychiatric inpatient and home care, and clinical research. She comes to us from the Geropsychiatry Unit at the VA Medical Center.
Karen Wetzel, P.A.-C, M.P.A.S, received her B.A. as a physician assistant (P.A.) from the University of Nebraska. She joined the ADRC in 2002. She further pursued her studies earning degrees in both psychology and P.A .Studies, and has been working in research for the last eight years.
David P. Salmon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Residence in the Department of Neurosciences and Co-Director of the Clinical Core of the ADRC. Dr. Salmon received his Ph.D. in biopsychology from Rutgers University in 1984 and completed post-doctoral training in animal and human neuropsychology at UCSD in 1986. He has been affiliated with the ADRC since 1985. His research focuses on the neural basis of memory and cognition examined through the psychological and neurological analysis of the cognitive deficits associated with diverse dementing disorders.
Guerry M. Peavy, Ph.D., is a licensed neuropsychologist and faculty member of the UCSD Department of Neurosciences. She obtained her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Connecticut and has worked at the ADRC since 1990. Her research has focused on cognitive functioning in patients with Alzheimer's disease. She initially studied patients in severe stages of dementia, and is currently examining the effects of chronic psychological stress on the development of Alzheimer's disease. Of particular interest are those subjects who are already experiencing some memory loss but are otherwise functioning normally (MCI).
Cecily Jenkins, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist who received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Clark University in 1999, and completed her clinical internship and post-doctoral training at UCSD. She has been employed at the ADRC since 1995, initially serving as a psychometrist and eventually working as a post-graduate researcher and co-facilitator of the Center’s Memory in Aging Project (MAP). MAP is a focused recruitment initiative aimed at Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) research.
Eileen DaPena, B.A., PsyD., received her B.A. in psychology from UCSB in 1994, and her M.A. in Psychology and PsyD.at CSPP. Eileen is a Panama native who arrived in the United States in 1991. Bilingual and bicultural, she is a part-time psychometrist for the Hispanic component of the ADRC.
Sandra Jerkins, B.S., received her B.S. in psychology from UCSD in 1998. She has since worked as part-time psychometrist for our longitudinal study and is currently involved in the Memory in Aging Project.
Rosa Montoya received her B.A. in human development from UCSD in 2002, same year she joined the ADRC. Rosa was born in Mexicali and has been in the States since she was two years old. She utilizes her excellent Spanish language skills as a part-time psychometrist for the Hispanic component.
Frances Martinez Goodrich, M.S.W., has worked at the ADRC since 1995. She received her B.A. in Behavioral Sciences from New Mexico Highlands University in 1973, and her M.S.W. at the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. As a social worker for the Hispanic Program of the ADRC, she works closely with our 100 participants in the Program and their families, establishes strong and committed professional working relationships with other allied health professionals, magnifies the importance of support for the Alzheimer patient and caregiver through the Guidelines for Alzheimer’s Disease Management.
Lisa Snyder, L.C.S.W., has worked at the ADRC since 1987. She received her B.A. in fine arts from Humboldt State University in 1983 and her M.S.W. from San Diego State University in 1987. Lisa provides counseling, education, information and referral services to our patients and families. She is recognized nationally and internationally for her work in early-stage Alzheimer's and for understanding the subjective experience of the disease.
Steven D. Edland, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., core leader of data management and statistics core, received his B.S. in environmental studies from Western Washington University in 1983, his M.S. in statistics and Ph.D. in epidemiology from University of Washington (UW) in 1986 in 1986 and 2000, respectively. He is an associate professor of biostatistics with appointments in the departments of Family and Preventive Medicine and Neurosciences. Prior to joining the ADRC in 2004, Dr. Edland was director of data management and statistics core at the Mayo Clinic ADRC.
Rema Raman Ph.D., received her Ph.D. in biostatistics from the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2002, and joined the ADRC that same year. Her areas of interest are longitudinal data analysis (particularly, mixed-effects models); clinical trials methodology, especially trials involving neurodegenerative diseases, and stroke.
C. Richard Hofstetter, Ph.D., Professor of political science and Adjunct Professor at the graduate school of public health at San Diego State University. Since joining the ADRC in 1986, he has worked as programmer, analyst, and statistician the ADRC. He received his Ph.D. in political science and sociology from Indiana University in 1967, and his current fields of interest are data processing, statistical applications, survey research and design.
Alicia Booth joined the ADRC in 1985 and currently works as computer programmer. She received her undergraduate degree in legal translation from Universidad Argentina de la Empresa, Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1975.
Mary Sundsmo, M.B.A., Shiley-Marcos ADRC Program Director, started her career at UCSD in 1980 in the labs of Drs. Miller and Saitoh, and joined the Shiley-Marcos ADRC in 1998 as program director. She earned her undergraduate degree in microbiology and her M.B.A. from the University of California, Irvine in 1969 and 1999, respectively. Ms. Sundsmo was an integral part of the UCSD-initiated legislation of assembly bill A.B. 2328 that called for expanding research opportunities for affected individuals and was recognized with a certificate of appreciation on behalf of the UC Office of the President and the California Department of Health Services. She has been elected to the Administrators Steering Committee of the 30 nationwide National Institute on Aging (NIA)-funded Alzheimer’s Research Centers and serves as a liaison between the NIA and members of the committee. Mary is a contributing writer for the George G. Glenner Center newsletter and serves as a community ambassador and on their Medical Advisory Board. She volunteers as a speaker for community caregiver, patient support, Kiwanis, and Rotary groups.
Pamela Bell, joined the ADRC in 1985. She provides support for the ADRC including payroll, timekeeping, computer hardware/software support, telephone systems and data lines installation and repair coordination, supervision of receptionists and other clerical staff, purchasing, grant preparation, serving as webmaster of our ADRC web page, and undertaking other departmental management logistics.
Sue Johnson has worked in administrative support for the UCSD School of Medicine since 1984 and has been with the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer's Disease Research Center since 1997. She began her tenure with UCSD at the Office of Continuing Medical Education and eventually moved on to manage numerous clinical research study offices for departments within the School of Medicine. Sue has been the assistant for the ADRC's founder and now Professor Emeritus of Neurosciences, Dr. Robert Katzman, since 1997 and her projects have been numerous. Some of these include the initiation of an international journal publication and editorial board, as well as the publication of a book on the history of AD research. Ms. Johnson is the Conference Coordinator for the ADRC's annual Continuing Medical Education conference, attended by an average of 300 medical professionals who come from all over the world to learn of the most recent advances in Alzheimer's Disease Research from the ADRC faculty and guest speakers. In addition, she manages the day to day operations of Professor Emeritus Katzman's busy office, as well as her own.
Ingrid Padilla earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and economics from the University of Virginia in 1994. She joined the ADRC in 1997 as bilingual/bicultural psychometrist for the ADRC and Hispanic component of the ADRC. In that capacity, she collaborated with SOCARE, Epilepsy Clinic, and Huntington's Disease Clinic performing language assessments and neuropsychometric testing of monolingual Spanish-speaking patients. She is currently our information specialist, responsible for marketing and public relations for the center, recruitment of research participants; serving as community liaison and public speaker for the Center; editing, writing, and translating for the Currents newsletter and other community publications. She serves on the local chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association Speaker’s Bureau and is the main contact for information regarding our studies or inquiries about potential participation.
Joseph Toledo, B.S., administrative analyst, handles the complex financial records of the ADRC Cores, Pilots and Projects. He earned his B.S. in commerce and accounting in 1980 from the San Sebastián College in the Philippines. He joined the ADRC in 1998 after years of working at the Department of Medicine.
Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center
8950 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite C-129
La Jolla, CA 92037-0948
(858)622-5800
adrc@ucsd.edu