Huntington's Disease

Our Experts

Doctors

• Dr. Adam L. Boxer, Neurologist

• Dr. Michael D. Geschwind, neurologist

• Dr. Bruce L. Miller, behavioral neurologist

• Dr. Howard Rosen, neurologist

Nurses

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.

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.

Andrea Zanko coordinates the Huntington's Disease (HD) clinic in association with the multidisciplinary team at the USCF Memory and Aging Center. She facilitates a monthly support group and participates in clinical research designed to ascertain and interpret the numerous expressions of HD. Zanko has been a genetic counselor at UCSF Medical Center in the pediatric/adult genetics clinic for over 20 years, working with families suspected or known to be affected by or at risk for genetic disorders. She created the UCSF Huntington's Disease Counseling & Testing Clinic in 1990 and continues to counsel individuals and families regarding HD and the complexities of predictive DNA analysis. Zanko received her master's in genetic counseling from the University of California, Berkeley. She has a bachelor's degree in education and social sciences from Boston University and majored in cell and molecular biology at San Francisco State University.