I'm a behavioral neurologist specializing in Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and other conditions that affect memory, thinking and behavior. I'm part of the team at OHSU's Layton Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Center — one of only a few dozen centers in the country funded by the National Institute on Aging, and the only one in Oregon. As an NIH-supported scientist, I stay closely connected to the latest advances in the field — including work on clinical trials and emerging therapies that may be available to my patients here at OHSU.

I completed medical training at OHSU, a neurology residency at Northwestern Memorial University and a Behavioral Neurology Fellowship at the Memory and Aging Center in San Francisco. I later joined the University of Colorado, where I led an Alzheimer's clinical trial, developed the Standard of Care Rates (SoCRates) clinical database and established a pre-clinical Cognitive Health Review Information System (CHRIS). 

My research lab focuses on innovative techniques for diagnosing and managing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related disorders (AD/ADRD), particularly those affecting socioemotional behavior and communication. My interest in neurodegenerative diseases began as a research assistant at OHSU’s Layton Alzheimer’s Disease Center, later advancing through neuroimaging and communication studies at Northwestern and UCSF. My K23 Training Grant focused on computational speech analytics in AD/ADRD. Recent findings, presented at the 2024 American Academy of Neurology, showed 95% accuracy in distinguishing AD from healthy controls using spontaneous speech alone. 

My work also explores linguistic and socioemotional differences, supported by the ARTFL-LEFFTDS Consortium. My research integrates advanced recording and analytic technologies.

I'm board-certified in both Neurology and Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry, and I'm a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neuropsychiatric Association and the International Society for Frontotemporal Dementias.