Dr. Liliana Ramirez-Gomez received a diversity supplement from the NIA to a parent grant from the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (MADRC) directed by Dr. Brad Hyman, MD, PhD. This diversity supplement will support Dr. Ramirez-Gomez for two years and will enable her to (1) receive training from experts in the field of Alzheimer’s disease and biomarkers, (2) obtain pilot/preliminary data for a future grant application and (3) develop advanced skills in research, biostatistics and methodological approaches.
Dr. Ramirez-Gomez has proposed a research project that complements the aims of the parent grant, and that will draw on the parent center grant’s extensive resources. She will examine the relations between genetic, cognitive, neuroimaging measures, and their associations with risk to develop Alzheimer’s disease later in life. Dr. Ramirez-Gomez will work closely with Drs. Yakeel Quiroz, PhD and Mark Albers, MD, PhD. She will further her expertise in brain disorders and neurodegeneration, while learning to integrate molecular, behavioral, cognitive and genetic data. Specifically, this study seeks to improve our understanding of olfactory and cognitive functioning in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, and how it relates to brain pathology, both structurally and functionally.