Jana competed on a high level on the junior tennis circuit and eventually became a recruited athlete to Cornell University, where she found her passion for genetics. She went on to the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health and completed a Master of Science in genetic counseling. Jana joined the Cord Blood Registry in 2006, working on clinical trials and other research activities. She is also interested in personalized genomics and has consulted for various laboratories.
Mia received her Bachelor’s in Psychology from Rice University. She joined the ALBA Lab as an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator on the Language/PPA Team. Previously, she worked with Dr. Bryan Denny at the T-SCAN Lab, studying the efficacy of training clinical populations in emotion regulation strategies. She is passionate about using research to inform and develop targeted interventions for underserved and underrepresented populations.
Maria Luisa Mandelli leads the neuroimaging research within the language team of the Memory and Aging Center. Her research focuses on neuroanatomical changes caused by language, and other neurodegenerative disorders. She has been working on brain magnetic resonance imaging for the past 10 years, with the goal of better understanding of how the brain develops, changes over time, and how it makes us who we are.
Originally from Sonoma County, Dolce attended college at UCLA, where she graduated with a degree in Psychology. While at UCLA, Dolce was a research assistance at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, studying the effects of behavioral therapy on children with autism spectrum disorder. She also served as a public speaker with the National Alliance on Mental Health, Westside LA, working to expand mental health awareness to young adults in the community.
Ezra Mauer is a predoctoral fellow based at the Memory and Aging Center and Dyslexia Center through UCSF's Clinical Psychology Training Program. He is also a PhD candidate in UC Berkeley's Clinical Science (Psychology) Program. Ezra's current research explores the lifespan phenotypic expression of dyslexia and examines how neurodevelopmental differences inform risk/resilience in typical cognitive aging and neurodegenerative disease. He received an MA in Psychology from UC Berkeley and a BA in Middle East Studies from Brown University.
Dr. Zachary Miller grew up in the Washington DC metro area. He obtained an undergraduate degree double majoring in Molecular Biology and Fine Arts from Haverford College. Following this he spent two years as a research assistant at MIT’s Whitehead Institutes for Biomedical Research in Dr. Harvey Lodish’s lab. He received his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh and pursued medical internship as well as neurology residency training at the University of Washington.
Heather Murphy, EdM, is a research coordinator for the UCSF Dyslexia Center's Multitudes project. She is interested in research-practice partnerships that drive toward improved reading outcomes for children historically underserved by the education system. Prior to UCSF, she was an education practitioner, serving for 18 years as a K-6 instructional coach, reading specialist, literacy and math interventionist, and general and special education teacher in Brooklyn, NY; Washington, DC; Cambridge, MA; and San Francisco, CA.
Bettina Pedemonte completed a PhD in Mathematics in Italy at Genoa University and a PhD in Mathematics Education in France at Grenoble University. She has experience in teaching mathematics, in particular to students with learning disorders. She designed technological environments to support mathematical learning. Her research interests include understanding cognitive processes involved in solving mathematical problems and finding new teaching methods to support mathematical learning. Bettina joined UCSF in March 2018, specializing in designing a battery for dyscalculia.
In addition to her doctorate degree in Developmental Neuroscience from the University of Pisa, Francesca Pei brings over 20 years of leadership, operational management and strategic planning in a variety of health care, research, academic and education settings. She joined UCSF in 2022 as the Chief Operating Officer for Applied Neuroscience projects in the ALBA Lab at the MAC.
Dr. Pereira graduated from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology-Stanford PsyD Consortium in 2014. She has a background in psychology, developmental biology, neuroimaging and neuropsychology. Her research interests include brain development across the lifespan. She is currently working on a pediatric HIV brain imaging study with Dr. Victor Valcour.
When she is not working, she enjoys spending time outdoors, watching movies, playing soccer, and listening to jazz.
