Vascular Dementia

Our Experts

Doctors

• Dr. Michael D. Geschwind, neurologist

• Dr. Bruce L. Miller, behavioral neurologist

• Dr. Howard Rosen, neurologist

Nurses

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.

Other Experts

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.