Experts on Alzheimer's Disease

Cynthia Barton is a nurse practitioner who specializes in treating the elderly. She completed her basic nursing education at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, N.H. She earned a bachelor of science in nursing at UCSF and a master of science in nursing from Duke University. She is certified as a gerontological nurse practitioner by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Barton speaks in the community on the topics of cognition in the elderly, cognitive assessment and non-pharmacological management of behavior problems in dementia.

Rosalie Gearhart is the administrative nurse for the UCSF Memory and Aging Center. She works with families during diagnostic visits and cares for patients in the follow-up clinic. Gearhart works to help maintain the quality of life of patients and caregivers. She is interested in studying people at risk for dementia, the prevention of decline and the impact of caregiving on families, particularly families involved in the care of frontotemporal dementia patients.

Gearhart earned her undergraduate degree in nursing at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She began her nursing career at Johns Hopkins Hospital and worked in general medicine at UCSF Medical Center where she was nurse manager. She earned a master's in nursing administration at UCSF and is a gerontological clinical nurse specialist, certified by the American Nurses Association Credentialing Center. She is an assistant clinical professor in the physiology department of the UCSF School of Nursing.

Jill Goldman, a certified genetic counselor, educates patients on genetics and the risk of inheriting genetic forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia and prion diseases. She also recruits patients and their family members for dementia genetic research studies. Goldman earned her undergraduate degree in biology from Goucher College in Baltimore, Md., and a master's of philosophy in biology from Yale University in New Haven, Conn. She earned graduate degrees in counselor education from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut and genetic counseling from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to becoming a genetic counselor at UCSF Medical Center, Goldman worked as a science teacher and health educator. She also is an associate clinical professor in the UCSF School of Nursing.

Jennifer Merrilees is a clinical nurse specialist in geriatrics at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center where she works with patients and families in the assessment and management of cognitive function, behavior and caregiving issues. Merrilees received her master's degree in nursing from the University of California, San Francisco and is certified by the American Nurses Association in Gerontological Nursing. Merrilees has 10 years experience working with elders and their families. Previously she worked with hospitalized elderly at UCSF Medical Center. As an assistant clinical professor, Merrilees taught in the UCSF graduate program in Gerontological nursing with primary responsibility in clinical training and supervision of master's nursing students. She is involved in outreach programs at Self-Help for the Elderly, which serves Chinese elderly and Laguna Honda Hospital, a long-term care facility. Merrilees 'scurrent work focuses primarily on frontotemporal dementia and the issues faced by family caregivers.

Christina Wyss-Coray is a clinical nurse at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center where she meets with patients and families on the appointment day, evaluates caregiver issues and performs functional, behavioral and memory assessments. In addition, Wyss-Coray organizes and oversees follow-up appointments and follows patients and families through the course of enrollment at the center. Wyss-Coray graduated from Nursing College in Chur, Switzerland in 1987. She worked as a clinical nurse and charge nurse for six years in a university hospital in Switzerland. In 1993, Wyss-Coray moved to the United States with her family and in 1996 joined the Intensive Care Unit at UCSF. In 1999, she came to the Memory and Aging Center.

Nina Dronkers, a consultant at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, specializes in adult speech and language disorders. She evaluates individuals with progressive changes in their speech or language skills and participates in ongoing research concerning language abilities in dementia. In addition, Dronkers is Director of the Center for Aphasia and Related Disorders and Chief of the Audiology and Speech Pathology Service at the Department of Veterans Affairs Northern California Health Care System. She also is an adjunct professor in the neurology and linguistics departments at the University of California, Davis. Dronkers received her doctorate in neuropsychology from the University of California, Berkeley.

As a clinical pharmacist with the UCSF Memory and Aging Center for over 15 years, Richard Ronald Finley collaborates with the members of the medical team to optimize drug therapy, conducts medication history interviews and meets with patients and caregivers to discuss questions/issues regarding traditional and nontraditional medications. He has a strong interest in geriatric drug therapy and medications for dementia.

Finley received his bachelor's degree in pharmacy at St. Louis College of Pharmacy in Missouri. In addition, he is a consultant pharmacist for the On Lok-Senior Health program and the Institute on Aging Alzheimer's Day Care Program. He is co-chair of pharmacy practice at the California Geriatric Education Center as well as a lecturer, and member of the faculty since 1980, in the department of clinical pharmacy, School of Pharmacy at UCSF.

For over 10 years, Christine Gibson has worked as a Senior Psychometrist at UCSF Medical Center in both the Psychological Assessment Clinic and the Memory and Aging Clinic. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of New Orleans. After graduation, she worked at Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans as a psychometrist before relocating to the Bay Area.

Jill Goldman is a full time member of the Memory and Aging Center at UCSF where a large research project is underway investigating the genetics of ALS and a type of dementia. The genetics counselor evaluates the patient in the ALS Center during regular clinic visits or at a separate appointment. Information is gathered with special attention to family history of ALS, dementia, psychiatric disorders and drug or alcohol abuse. Genetic counseling for the entire family is available as needed.

Joel Kramer is director of the UCSF Memory and Aging Center Neuropsychology program. Kramer has been extensively involved in studying the cognitive changes associated with brain disorders for the past two decades. Presently, his active areas of research include studying the cognitive effects of cerebrovascular disease and frontotemporal dementia, identifying behavioral markers of pre-clinical Alzheimer's disease and understanding the relationships between aging, hormones and behavior.

Kramer earned his doctorate at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Martinez VA Hospital. Kramer is board certified in clinical neuropsychology and serves on the board of directors of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. In addition, he is an associate clinical professor of neurology, psychiatry and pediatrics at UCSF.

Katherine Rankin is a neuropsychologist who works with dementia patients at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center. She assesses the cognitive function of patients for both clinical and research evaluations. Rankin specializes in research that examines the neuroanatomy of the altered personalities of patients as well as social behavior that sometimes results from dementia.

Rankin received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Yale University, where she worked at the Genetic Epidemiology Research Unit at the Yale School of Medicine. She earned a graduate degree in theology and a doctorate in clinical psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. During her training, she conducted research through the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the University of Southern California as well as the Harbor UCLA Medical Center. Rankin completed her doctorate internship training at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinez and UC Davis Medical Center. She went on to complete a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at UCSF Medical Center, where she is currently an assistant adjunct professor in the neurology department.