Our Team
Leadership:
Rhoda Au (PhD, MBA)
Director, Primary Investigator
Rhoda Au is a Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurology, Medicine and Epidemiology at Boston University. She also serves as one of the principal investigators of the Framingham Heart Study Brain Aging Program (FHS-BAP) and is currently the Director of Neuropsychology. Her work includes using technologies to promote equal opportunity science and to develop and validate multi-sensor digital biomarkers. Her long-term research objective is to enable global solutions that move the primary focus of health technologies from precision medicine to a broader emphasis on precision brain health.
See full profile on BU School of Medicine website
Vijaya Kolachalama (PhD)
Primary Investigator
Vijaya Kolachalama is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Department of Computer Science at Boston University. He is also a founding member of the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences at BU. Dr. Kolachalama’s research group is primarily focused on developing advanced machine learning algorithms that have diagnostic relevance. His laboratory is funded by multiple awards from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, private foundations, and the pharmaceutical industry.
See full profile on BU School of Medicine website
Katherine A. Gifford (PsyD)
Primary Investigator
Katherine Gifford is an Associate Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology at Boston University. She is a licensed clinical neuropsychologist with a research focus on the early detection of unhealthy brain aging, such as Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Work from her team has included the creation of a new tool to assess subjective cognitive decline that has been validated against multi-modal markers of Alzheimer’s disease. Currently, she is focused on expanding early detection efforts through scalable and digital modalities and collaborates with other teams on clinical assessment and diagnosis of dementia.
Phillip Hwang (PhD, MPH)
Investigator
Phillip Hwang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health and the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine. His work is focused on the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) through early detection and identification of risk and protective factors. Current research centers on modifiable lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, and social connectedness, in relation to resilience and risk of ADRD across the life course, as well as projects on the use of digital measures of cognition and behavior in older adults.
See full profile on BU School of Public Health website
Huitong Ding (PhD)
Research Assistant Professor
Dr. Ding is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology. He was previously a postdoctoral associate at the PBHI lab where he received training in brain aging research and explored the application of advanced analytical approaches to conduct interdisciplinary research in cognitive science. His current research explores cognitive heterogeneity, sex differences, early detection, digital phenotyping of cognitive impairment, and heart-brain connection using inclusive approaches.
Non-BU Affiliates:
Honghuang Lin (PhD)
Professor of Medicine, Primary Investigator
Dr. Lin is a Professor of Medicine and Co-director of the Program in Digital Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School. His research is focused on the bioinformatics and statistical analysis of genetics and multi-omics data for cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease. He is also developing machine learning models for the early diagnosis of diseases using a large collection of blood biomarkers, images, digital data and electronic health records. Dr. Lin was previously an Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University and still serves as the principal investigator of the Futurizing Brain Health project.
See full profile on UMass Chan Medical School website
Ileana De Anda-Duran (MD, MPH)
Research Assistant Professor
Dr. De Anda-Duran is a Research Assistant Professor at the Epidemiology Department at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Her research centers on identifying interventions that can impact brain health at the population level and reduce the disproportionate burden of dementia in racial and ethnic minorities. By investigating cardiovascular pathways to healthy cognitive aging and using decentralized technology-based approaches to overcome research barriers, she aims to discover digital measures that may be more sensitive than traditional metrics at identifying individuals who would benefit from CV risk control.
Postdoctorals:
Francesca Marino (PhD)
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Dr. Marino is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology and received a PhD. in epidemiology. Her research focuses on using sensors and wearable devices to identify digital markers of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). In particular, her work centers on understanding associations between physical activity and other modifiable risk factors with cognitive function among older adults, as well as identifying objectively measured patterns of daily physical activity that are most strongly related to ADRD.
Maciej Kos (PhD)
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Dr. Kos is a postdoctoral fellow at Northeastern University’s Center for Cognitive and Brain Health and BU’s PBHI. He specializes in mHealth, sensing, and behavioral modeling. With a background in computer and behavioral sciences, he combines data-driven and statistical approaches with computational mechanistic modeling and decision-making frameworks to address challenges in health monitoring and cognitive aging. Dr. Kos enjoys collaborations on meaningful projects and mentoring students. His work is funded by the NIA K00 Career Award, with previous funding from ACM, Intel, and Google. He holds a Health Informatics Ph.D. from Northeastern.
Data Team:
Jingquan Miao (M.S.)
Research Fellow
Jingquan’s current research focuses on understanding how cardiovascular health relates to cognitive aging and dementia risk, while also exploring how voice and speech features can support cognitive health assessment. Her work uses data from longitudinal cohort studies, app-based health assessment programs, digital wearable sensors, and biomarkers to support the early detection, monitoring, and management of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. She holds an M.S. in Social Data Analytics from Brown University, as well as B.A. degrees in Mathematics and Psychology from Boston University.
Edward Searls (M.S.)
Research Applications Developer
Edward works on building data pipelines and exploring how AI systems can be used for the analysis of multimodal, unstructured data generated from human/health-tech interaction. He has an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Boston University and a B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science from Amherst College. His interests are agentic AI, AI deployment, privacy, and wearable technologies, with applications in dementia and brain aging.
Theo Chen (B.A.)
Research Applications Developer
Theo works on data infrastructure and data analysis to support research at PBHI. He received a B.A. in Computer Science with a minor in Japanese from Boston University. He is planning on pursuing his master’s in bioinformatics, and is interested in the use of digital technology for the early identification of Alzheimer’s.
Study Staff:
Alexa Burk (B.S.)
Program Manager
Alexa manages and oversees the progress of several studies in the PBHI, collaborating closely with external teams and maintaining relationships with collaborators across multiple sites. She is involved in projects incorporating digital technologies, including the Digital Phenotyping project, SpeechDx, and the optical coherence tomography (OCT) assessment for OCTDx. Alexa is currently pursuing her MPH, and received her B.S. in Psychology from UMass Amherst.
Meg Low (B.S, B.A.)
Program Manager
Meg manages several projects in the PBHI that incorporate digital technologies, neuropsychological assessments, and blood-based biomarkers. She is passionate about engaging people of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds in research. Meg is currently pursuing her MPH, and received her B.S. in Health Policy and Management and B.A. in Psychology from Providence College.
Meghan Maher (B.A, M.S.)
Research Specialist
Meghan supports the Digital Phenotyping Study by facilitating participant engagement and data collection, while also contributing to the Beatitudes Digital Blood Study with Beatitudes Senior Living in Phoenix, Arizona. She has a B.A. in Psychology and an M.S. in Applied Psychology. She is passionate about the intersection of technology and neuroscience and aspires to pursue a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience.
Kaitlyn Anderson (B.S.)
Research Specialist
Kaitlyn manages participants in both the Digital Phenotyping and WellSense projects in the PHBI. Her work incorporates conducting study visits, administering neuropsychological testing, and supporting participant recruitment. Kaitlyn earned her B.S. from Cornell University, majoring in both Biology and Communication with a minor in Creative Writing. She plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.
Sylvia Long (B.S.)
Research Specialist
Sylvia Long supports the Digital Phenotyping Study by conducting study visits with participants, drafting reports, assisting with literature reviews, and analyzing study data. Sylvia earned her B.S. in Biological Science and Environment & Society from Florida State University. She is interested in improving early detection of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Max Levin (B.S.)
Program Manager
Max manages PBHI operations and oversees the delivery of cross-functional projects. He is passionate about leveraging digital technologies to expand representation in research and accelerate clinical outcomes. Max earned his B.S. in Industrial Engineering and brings participant centric thinking, stakeholder management, and process optimization expertise from his experiences working as an Engineer and Management Consultant. He is currently pursuing his MBA at Boston University.
Stephanie Li (B.S, MPH)
PhD Candidate
Stephanie Li is currently doing her PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience and she works closely with the Framingham Heart Study in her research. She is interested in utilizing digital technologies to detect early signs of ADRD through digital biomarkers. Currently, she is administering neuropsychological tests to the FHS cohorts as well as working on her own dissertation.
Nick Chipashvili (Undergraduate)
Research Intern
Nick works on ensuring quality data and recruiting participants for the study. Additionally he conducts literature reviews and helps the team with various tasks while working on his own independent research with REM sleep and cognitive status. Nick is an undergraduate Biology student at Boston University with a minor in Public Health and is interested in Alzheimer’s disease research with early detection technologies.
Lab Alumni:
Ludy Shih (M.D.) – Investigator
Zach Popp (MPH, B.S.) – Project Manager
Spencer Low (MPH, B.S.) – Project Manager
Spencer Hardy (MBA) – Project Manager
Kristi Ho (B.A) – Project Manager
Salman Rahman (B.S.) – Program Coordinator
Kieffer Christianson (M.A.) – Senior Research Study Administrator
Meysam Ahangaran (PhD) – Postdoctoral Research Associate
Matteo Bellitti (PhD) – Postdoctoral Research Associate
Zexu Li (M.S.) – Research Data Analyst
Enejda Senko (M.S.) – Senior Research Study Administrator
Marina Ritchie (M.S.) – Senior Research Study Administrator
Akwaugo Igwe (B.A) – Research Specialist
Sanskruti Madan (MPH, BDS) – Research Specialist
Vrushali Dhongade (MBBS, M.S) – Graduate Research Intern
Christina Nowak (M.S) – Graduate Research Intern
Melanie Joan – Graduate Research Intern
Omar Albastaki – Undergraduate Research Intern
Therese Ancheta – Undergraduate Research Intern
Stephanie Aw – Undergraduate Research Intern
Mariana Castaneda – Undergraduate Research Intern
Cameron Chan – Undergraduate Research Intern
Alice Galley – Undergraduate Research Intern
Ankita Kumar – Undergraduate Research Intern
Sophia Long – Undergraduate Research Intern
Sriman Narain – Undergraduate Research Intern
Esmeralda Navarro – Undergraduate Research Intern
Taylor Nelson – Undergraduate Research Intern
Liliveth Nwanguma – Undergraduate Research Intern
Emily Oh – Undergraduate Research Intern
Meha Prabhu – Undergraduate Research Intern
Maria Salgado – Undergraduate Research Intern
Regan Shanahan – Undergraduate Research Intern
Raiyan Khan – Undergraduate Research Intern
Minzae Kim – Undergraduate Research Intern
Avery Forster– Undergraduate Research Intern
Owen Tan – Undergraduate Research Intern
Saku Cui – Undergraduate Research Intern
Emerson Kropp – Undergraduate Research Intern
Isabella Panichi – Undergraduate Research Intern