2026 GATORAADE Mentors
|
Mentor Name |
Department |
Area of Interest |
|
Joe Abisambra, PhD |
Neuroscience |
Environmental factors and related neural mechanisms driving neuroprotection across the lifespan. Neurophysiology of stress and exercise and cognitive function. |
|
Stephen Anton, PhD |
Physiology & Aging |
The influence of lifestyle factors on people’s health and performance as they a.e |
|
Melissa Armstrong, MD |
Neurology |
Investigates causes and outcomes of hospitalization in Lewy body dementia. |
| Michelle Bedenbaugh, PhD | Neuroscience | Neural circuits that drive feeding, stress and other motivated behaviors. |
| Jennifer Bizon, PhD | Neuroscience | Focused on understanding brain aging and its implications for cognitive function. |
|
Gemma Casadesus, PhD |
Pharmacology and Therapeutics |
Physiological factors that impact brain function and drive or protect against Alzheimer’s Disease. |
|
Paramita Chakrabarty, PhD |
Neuroscience |
Role of neuroinflammation in Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias, Parkinson’s disease. |
|
Yenisel Cruz-Almeida, PhD |
Community Dentistry |
Neural circuits and mechanisms underlying pain perception in humans across the lifespan, neuroimaging. |
|
Natalie Ebner, PhD |
Psychology |
Lifespan development and aging. |
|
Karyn Esser, PhD |
Physiology and Aging |
Role of circadian rhythms in skeletal muscle physiology and systemic health. |
|
Ben Giasson, PhD |
Neuroscience |
Molecular mechanisms of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias. |
|
Sung Min Han, PhD |
Physiology and Aging |
Role of mitochondrial function in cognitive aging using C. elegans as model. |
|
Jeffrey Jones, PhD |
Neuroscience |
Neurogenomics, age-related metabolic changes in neurons and their role in Alzheimer’s disease. |
|
Habibeh Khoshbouei, PhD |
Neuroscience |
Role of dopamine in neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, dopaminergic regulation of brain-body circuits, neuroinflammation. |
|
Matt LaVoie, PhD |
Neurology |
Molecular mechanisms of adult onset neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. |
|
Shellie-Anne Levy, PhD |
Clinical and Health Psychology |
Cognitive changes in older adults with neurodegenerative disorders. Impact of health, psychosocial disparities, and resiliency factors in influencing neurodegenerative disorders. |
|
Ben Lewis, PhD |
Psychiatry |
Substance Use Disorders and Addiction, Brain Aging, Neurorehabilitation, Computational neuroscience, Neuropsychology. |
|
Ashley Malin, PhD |
Epidemiology |
Impact of environmental toxicants and nutrition on various health outcomes such as neurodegenerative disorders, cardiometabolic disease and neurodevelopment. |
|
Alfonso Martin-Peña, PhD |
Neuroscience |
Neurogenetics, mechanisms of synaptic function in health and Neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Neurophysiology. |
|
Mark Moehle, PhD |
Pharmacology and Therapeutics |
Cellular mechanisms underlying motor and non-motor symptoms of Movement Disorders, Parkinson’s Disease, Dystonia, Lewy Body Dementia. |
|
Eric Porges, PhD |
Clinical and Health Psychology |
Age-related changes in cognition, neurophysiological processes that underlie, impact, and accelerate these changes. |
|
Aprinda I Queen, PhD |
Clinical and Health Psychology |
Develops personalized aging interventions focusing on cognition using cutting-edge technologies such as multi-modal neuroimaging, artificial intelligence methods, and individualized computational models. |
|
Barry Setlow, PhD |
Psychiatry |
Effects of exposure to drugs of abuse on cognition and on decision-making, animal models of age-related cognitive decline. |