Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

Activities Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, Belonging, and Uniqueness:

As with all areas of human subject research based in the United States and Western Europe, the field of brain aging suffers from a meaningful lack of diversity in both research participants and investigators. These restrictions have a profound impact on our capacity to understand healthy brain aging and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. I am committed to empowering researchers from underrepresented and minoritized groups to drive their own research and elevate their voices for the scientific and public communities. In addition, I aim to expand the diversity of participants in brain aging research. In addition to the formal roles described below, I have pursued many opportunities for learning about DEIA/J issues, including formal training, research-related discussions with members of underrepresented groups, and active participation in a DEIJ book club.


Research:
The Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative Global Cohort Development effort involves actively working with research teams across the globe, especially in low-and-middle income countries or low-resourced areas of higher income countries. The goal is to amplify the perspectives of researchers from different background/experiences in both collecting and interpreting data related to Alzheimer’s and related dementias. We have been facilitating access to funding and engaged in bi-directional mentoring to better learn conditions on the ground in these locations and to share with the research teams our experience and expertise in establishing and maintaining cohort studies. My role in this organization is as the Training Director, which offers me the opportunity to personally engage with these global researchers. I also contribute to applications for grants to support these researchers, serving in mentorship and training roles, including as MPI for a project in Malaysia.

Grants and Programs:

R25 AG081177 NIH/NIA. Expanding the Pipeline to Graduate Research in Alzheimer’s Disease. Summer research experience for undergraduate students from underrepresented groups designed to encourage interest in brain aging and professional development mentoring to enhance opportunities to pursue research and/or clinical work. Role: Subcontract MPI

1RF1AG072654 Precision Brain Health Monitoring for Alzheimer's Disease Risk Detection in the Framingham Study – Supplement to support enabling infrastructure and collecting cognitive data with Hispanic/LatinX community in Rio Grande City, Texas. Role: Clinical Neuropsychologist, Training Director

1RF1AG072654 Precision Brain Health Monitoring for Alzheimer's Disease Risk Detection in the Framingham Study – Supplement to support community engagement with the Black/African American community in the Framingham area to facilitate collaborations to enroll Black/African American participants in brain aging research . Role: Clinical Neuropsychologist, Manager


Mentoring:
At part of the R25 EPGRAD program previously mentioned, I managed all aspects of implementation at Boston University and participated in the mentoring of 10 undergraduate students from underrepresented groups during the summer of 2023, and will continue to do so, with increasing numbers of Scholars over the years, at least until the conclusion of this grant (although renewal will be pursued) in 2027.

I have served as a mentor to undergraduates in the Summer Training as Research Scholars Program (STaRS) program at Boston University, as well as the American Heart Association
SURE program, both of which are designed to be summer research experiencse for undergraduate students from underrepresented groups who are interested in pursuing research careers, the latter of which is specifically focused on students interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.

I have provided individual mentorship to five doctoral candidates who are from underrepresented groups in the research associated with their dissertations.

Service: I actively participate in the following committees:
• Anatomy & Neurobiology DEIJ Committee; Role: Member
• Indigenous People subcommittee; Role: Chair
• Community Outreach subcommittee; Role: Member
• Curriculum subcommittee; Role: Member
• Black History Month subcommittee; Role: Member
• Black History Month Symposium; Role: Co-host

• BU Research

• List
• Timeline Graph
• Timeline Data

In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

Brain Aging
Dementia
Alzheimer's Disease
Neuropsychology
Human Cognition
Brain Health
DEI Mentoring

Available to Mentor as: (Review Mentor Role Definitions):

• Advisor
• Co-Mentor or Peer Mentor
• Project Mentor