Celina Pluim, BS, MA
PhD Student
Celina is a fourth-year doctoral student in the clinical psychology program at Boston University (BU) where she is co-mentored by Dr. Alice Cronin-Golomb and Dr. Yakeel Quiroz (MGH). After graduating with her B.S. in psychology from the University of California, San Diego in 2014, she worked as a study coordinator in the Neurocognition and Movement Lab at the San Diego VA studying neuropsychological changes and cognitive rehabilitation for Parkinson’s disease with mild cognitive impairment. She is interested in understanding predictive and protective factors of cognitive decline, and recently received a T32 predoctoral training grant through the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School to examine the relationships between sleep, circadian rhythms and cognitive functioning in older adults with and without cognitive impairment. She enjoys spending her free time outdoors hiking, camping, and backpacking with her fiancé Ryan, baking delicious treats, and exploring Boston.
Jairo E. Martinez, BA, MA
PhD Student
Jairo is a second-year doctoral student in the clinical psychology program of Boston University (BU). He matriculated in BU in the fall of 2021 where he is co-mentored by Dr. Alice Cronin-Golomb and Dr. Yakeel Quiroz. He completed his bachelor’s degree in 2018 with a major in Neuroscience and Behavior from Columbia University. Prior to becoming a student at BU, he worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator for the Multicultural Alzheimer’s Prevention Program (MAPP) from 2018-2021. He also completed summer internships with the Harvard Aging Brain Study and MAPP in 2016 and 2017. Currently, his interests include investigating how subjective cognitive decline, stress, emotional memory, and/or cardiovascular risk factors may be related to cognitive decline and pathology in a population with autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease. In his free time, he enjoys sketching, dancing, and spending time with friends and family.
Averi Giudicessi, BS, MA
PhD Student
Averi is a first-year doctoral student in the clinical psychology program at Boston University (BU). She is co-mentored by Dr. Yakeel Quiroz and Dr. Alice Cronin-Golomb. She completed his bachelor’s degree at Fordham University with a major in Psychology and an MS in Neuropsychology from Benemerita Universidad Autonomy de Puebla. Prior to becoming a student at BU, she worked as a Research Assistant for UCSD. Broadly, her research interests include sex differences in aging populations and how reproductive factors unique to women may be related to higher rates of AD and dementia in women. In his free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, and hanging out with her dog.
Jorge Alcina, MS
Pre-Doctoral Intern
Jorge Alcina is a pre-doctoral Intern within the Multicultural Neuropsychology Track at the Multicultural Assessment and Research Center (MARC). He is a doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology at Albizu University-Miami Campus and a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant recipient. His clinical and research interests primarily focus on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) in relation to risk factors among Latino/a/e/x individuals and other ethnoracially-diverse populations. In his free time, he enjoys reading, singing, making music, and spending time with loved ones.
Perla Ortiz, BA
PhD Practicum Student
Perla Ortiz is a fifth-year student in the PhD Clinical Psychology program at the University of Puerto Rico. She started working in the MGH Disparities Research Unit in 2020 with minority-populations mental health research. She is a MAPP Scholar 2022 and currently is completing an advanced practicum at the Multicultural Assessment and Research Center (MARC). She is also pursuing a certification in Gerontology at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine Her clinical research interests primarily focus on lifestyle factors and sociodemographic variables and their impact on older adults’ cognition. In her free time, she enjoys dancing, singing karaoke, reading, traveling, exercising, and spending time with family and friends.
