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.
Eugenie Mamuyac joined the UCSF Dyslexia Center's Multitudes project in September 2021. Now, she primarily works with Dr. Jessica de Leon as a research coordinator and administers the CATS (Cognitive Assessments for Tagalog Speakers) battery. Prior to UCSF, Eugenie received her Master's degree in Asia Pacific Studies at USF. Her research interests include bilingualism and acculturation.
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.
Brittany is a Data Analyst at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center working under Dr. Jet Vonk on dementia research. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and an M.S. in Health Data Science. Her work focuses on analyzing the speech and linguistic features of dementia using Python and statistical analysis.
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.
Gabriella is a bilingual speech-language pathologist at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in the Dyslexia Center led by Dr. Marilu Gorno-Tempini. Gabriella has a BA degree in Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico and an MS degree in Speech and Language Pathology from Carlos Albizu University. Gabriella is a native Spanish speaker, raised and educated in Puerto Rico, and is passionate about bilingualism.
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.
