Jessica Brommelhoff
brommelh@usc.edu
Jessica’s research focuses on the relationship between dementia and depression. Her master’s thesis examined whether depression is a risk factor or prodromal feature of dementia. Her dissertation is funded by a NIH-NRSA predoctoral research fellowship and investigates the neuroanatomical mechanisms linking depression and dementia using CT scans from participants in the Study of Dementia in Swedish Twins. She is also interested in the neuropsychological predictors of the progression from mild cognitive impairment to dementia, as well as the effects of alcohol on the aging brain.
Before coming to USC, Jessica attended Wellesley College where she received a Bachelor of Arts in psychobiology and English, and Yale University, where she received a Masters in Public Health, with a concentration in chronic disease epidemiology. After completing her MPH, Jessica worked at Yale as a research associate and data manager for the Multicenter Study of Epilepsy Surgery and as a database consultant for the Emerging Infections Program.
Trish George
Lewina studies the etiology, treatment and impact of anxiety and related disorders, particularly in the adult lifespan. Her dissertation is funded by an NIH-NRSA research fellowship and investigates the temporal association of anxiety, stressful life events and physical health in a longitudinal sample of older Swedish twins. In another project, Lewina is studying the influence of age at first drink on subsequent drinking behavior using data from the Virginia Adult Twin Study of Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Disorders. Her master’s thesis examined the impact of anxiety on young and older adults’ attention for threatening information using an experimental paradigm. She is mentored by Dr. Carol Prescott and Dr. Margaret Gatz.
Prior to graduate school, Lewina attended USC as an undergraduate, where she worked as a research assistant for Dr. Bob Knight in the Stress, Ethnicity and Caregiving Study. She also assisted Dr. Gerald Davison on several anxiety-related projects. Later, she worked as a research coordinator of the Clinical Stroke Program in the Department of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Poorni Otilingam
otilinga@usc.edu
Poorni Otilingam’s program of research focuses on the reduction of neurodegenerative disease disparities, namely dementia, in high-risk populations. Her emphasis is two-fold: (1) identification of cultural determinants associated with dementia awareness and timely treatment help-seeking and (2) development and evaluation of empirically-supported brain health-focused interventions to reduce incident risk of dementia in high-risk populations. Past projects included a study of dementia perceptions among Indian Americans and assisting in the development of an updated measure to assess the public’s knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease.
Poorni received an A.B. from Washington University in Saint Louis and a M.P.H. with a concentration in Behavioral Science from Emory University. Before coming to USC, Poorni worked as a data analyst for the Palo Alto VA Health Care System’s Center for Health Care Evaluation. Currently she is on internship.
Carlos Alberto Rodriguez
rodrigca@usc.edu
Carlos’ research focuses on identifying modifiable risk factors of dementia, and on improving the assessment of dementia in culturally diverse communities. His current study documents perceptions of dementia among Latinos in an effort to understand help-seeking behaviors and barriers to dementia care in this population. This data will also inform the development and evaluation of a fotonovela (a comic-book style literary format with soap-opera themes) to educate Latino families on dementia symptoms and treatment.
Before coming to USC, Carlos was selected as a 2-year NIMH-COR Fellow at California State University, Long Beach. As a COR Fellow, he managed Dr. Sherry Span’s lab at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System, investigating the link between ADHD, mood, and anxiety disorders in the substance of choice of veterans enrolled in a substance-abuse rehabilitation program. During the same time, Carlos won the 2007 Florida Mental Health Institute’s Outstanding Research Award as an NSF Summer Fellow at the University of South Florida for his paper on depressive symptoms as a risk factor for alcohol abuse in older adults.
Emily Schoenhofen
schoenho@usc.edu
Emily is currently interested in the relationship between personality and cognitive aging. Most recently, she examined the longitudinal relationship between openness to experience and cognitive functioning in individuals (50 years and older) from the Swedish Twin/Adoption Study of Aging (SATSA). Her dissertation topic is on the effects of intraindividual variability, genetic/nongenetic components, and time-to-death factors on the stability and change in openness to experience over the second half of the lifespan.
Prior to graduate school, Emily attended Bucknell University where she received a B.A. in psychology. She then worked as a research assistant for the New England Centenarian Study, a study that examines the genetic, biological, and psychosocial factors influencing 100-year-olds.
