Diana Munera, BS
Clinical & Research Program Manager
Diana Munera joined Dr. Quiroz’ Lab in September 2019. She received her Bachelors of Science in Psychology in 2013 from Northeastern University. Before joining MAPP, Diana worked as a Practice Manager for the Psychology Assessment Center at MGH, where she worked closely with the MUNDOS program and Dr. Quiroz. Diana’s interest are: helping Latino families navigate the healthcare system. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her two toddlers, traveling and spending time with friends and family.
Ana Paola Garza BS, MS
Senior Clinical Research Coordinator
Paola received her Bachelors of Science in Nutrition and Food Science in 2011 from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and completed her Master of Science in Health Communication in 2016 from Lasell University. Before joining Paola worked as a Program Coordinator for the Latin American Heritage Diet at Oldways, where she worked closely with the Latino and African American communities. She previously worked at Joslin Diabetes Center with Dr. Enrique Caballero coordinating outreach and research efforts for the Latino Diabetes Initiative. Paola joined the lab in February 2020 to work on the newly funded Spanish speaking cohort of the Harvard Aging Brain Study. Paola is interested in the lifestyle prevention programs and the relationship between nutrition and mental health across cultures. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, cooking, playing with her dog, and spending time with friends and family.
Daisy T. Noriega, BA
Clinical Research Coordinator II
Daisy joined the Multicultural Alzheimer’s Prevention Program (MAPP) as a Clinical Research Coordinator in 2021. She completed her bachelor’s degree in 2019 with a major in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience (BCN) from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Before joining MAPP, she worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Scharf Lab at MGH. She is excited to contribute to understanding racial and ethnic disparities in cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s Disease through her time at MAPP. In her free time, she enjoys picking up new hobbies and snuggling with her cat.
Alex L. Badillo Cabrera, BA
Clinical Research Coordinator
Alex is a bilingual (Spanish & English) Clinical Research Coordinator at MARC. He joined Dr. Quiroz’s group on February of 2021. He received his Bachelor of Science of Psychology and a second concentration in Multidisciplinary Art from the University of Puerto Rico in 2020. Alex is interested in neuroaesthetics and clinical psychology. In his free time, he enjoys baking and painting.
Crystal Castillo, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator
Crystal Castillo joined the Multicultural Alzheimer’s Prevention Program (MAPP) in April of 2022 as a Clinical Research Coordinator. She completed her bachelor’s degree in 2019 with a major in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before joining MAPP, she worked at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Chicago, learning more about the aging process in older Latinx adults through yearly visits, MRI and Retinal imaging. She is interested in continuing to work on the accessibility of more culturally informed approaches to physical and mental health care. In her free time, she enjoys lying in the sun, playing games, and admiring the arts.
Sofia Fabrega Ching, BA, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator
Sofia joined the Multicultural Alzheimer’s Prevention Program (MAPP) and the Multicultural Assessment and Research Center (MARC) as a bilingual Clinical Research Coordinator in August of 2022. She received her B.A. in Psychology and her B.S. in Advertising in 2022 from Boston University. She is excited to contribute to research about Alzheimer’s Disease in underrepresented groups. In her free time she enjoys listening to music, reading, photography, and spending time with her family and friends.
Nikole Bonillas Felix, BA
Clinical Research Coordinator
Nikole joined the Multicultural Alzheimer’s Prevention Program (MAPP) as a Clinical Research Coordinator in August of 2022. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Latin American and Latinx Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2022, where she previously worked as a research assistant in the Department of Emergency Medicine and Gastroenterology and Nutrition at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and as an emergency medical technician with the Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT). Nikole is interested in understanding health disparities in multicultural and immigrant communities, especially risk factors that may contribute to the development of cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and increasing access to healthcare for these populations in hopes of joining the 2.4% of Latina physicians in the US. In her free time, Nikole enjoys playing and writing music, curating Spotify playlists, cooking and trying new foods, and exploring the outdoors.
Elizabeth Kaplan, BS BA
Research Assistant
Liz joined the Multicultural Alzheimer’s Prevention Program (MAPP) in January of 2022 as a Research Assistant. She received her B.S. in Cognitive Neuroscience and B.A. in Contemplative Studies in 2022 from Brown University. She is interested in novel biomarkers and treatment interventions for individuals on the Alzheimer’s Disease pathology spectrum. She enjoys going to the beach with friends, reading, and meditating in her free time.
Ana Baena, BA, MA
Clinical Research Coordinator (Colombia)
Ana received her undergraduate degree with a major in psychology from the University of Antioquia (Colombia), and she completed her MSc in Neuropsychology from the University of San Buenaventura. She joined the Group of Neuroscience of Antioquia as a neuropsychology psychometrician right after graduation, in order to study cognitive impairment in patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Ana’s current research interests include the study of the personality traits, as risk factors of the cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease. For the past five years, she has worked as research study coordinator in Colombia for Dr. Quiroz’s NIH grant on memory network dysfunction in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Ana is a full-time professional who passionately dedicates herself not only to her research, but also strives to maintain the well-being of patients and their families.
Yesica Zuluaga, BA
Clinical Research Coordinator (Colombia)
Yesica Zuluaga, completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Envigado and completed her master’s degree in neuropsychology at the University of San Buenaventura in Medellin. She currently works in the Neurosciences Group of Antioquia (Colombia) and teaches neuropsychology and neurophysiology at the Grancolombiano Polytechnic. Her main interest is the investigation of neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer’s disease. In recent years, it has been approached and motivated by cerebrovascular diseases, mainly of autosomal dominant origin caused by mutation in the Notch3 gene, such as CADASIL.
