Project 2: Lifestyle Behaviors in the Mid-Late Life Transition

Susan Bookheimer is a clinical neuropsychologist specializing in pre-surgical and intraoperative assessments for patients with epilepsy, brain tumors, vascular lesions, Parkinson's disease, and dementia. Her research uses brain imaging, particularly functional MRI, applied to a wide range of disorders including autism and Alzheimers, as well as in typical development and normal aging.

Bookheimer served as the AABC UCLA site principal investigator through December 1, 2023. As of July 1, 2024, Bookheimer retired from her full-time faculty position at UCLA transitioning her AABC UCLA MPI leadership role to Robert Welsh, MD.

Dara G. Ghahremani, PhD is a research professor and neuroscientist in the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). His research aims to understand self-regulation, its brain basis, how it changes across the lifespan, and is weakened in people with mental health problems. He also examines how self-regulation may be strengthened using pharmacological and behavioral interventions. He uses multiple neuroimaging techniques, including functional MRI (fMRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). His studies examine individuals across the lifespan, from children and adolescents to older adults, and include both healthy control participants and those with mental health problems, especially substance use disorders. The interventions employed for potential enhancement of self-regulation include pharmacological agents that show promise for enhancing cognitive function and non-pharmacological approaches that promote autonomic balance. Dr. Ghahremani received his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from the Psychology Department at Stanford University and postdoctoral training at UCLA.

Helen Lavretsky is a Professor In-Residence in the Department of Psychiatry and the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, a geriatric integrative psychiatrist with a federally funded research program in geriatric depression, cognition, and integrative mental health (NIMH, NCCIH, DOD, PCORI, and other). She directs the late-life mood, stress and wellness research program, and the integrative psychiatry and long-COVID clinical and research programs. She is the recipient of the Career Development Award from NIMH and the NCCIH, and other prestigious research awards. Her current research studies include investigations of mind-body therapies for mild cognitive impairment, chronic pain, and depression, and long-COVID syndrome. She is the Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, and the Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and the recipient of the Distinguished Investigator awards for research in geriatric psychiatry from the American College of Psychiatrists and the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. She is the President of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.