Our Leadership
Directors
Dr. Melinda Power, Director
Dr. Melinda Power, ScD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, and the Director of the GW Institute for Brain Health and Dementia. Dr. Power is committed to her research identifying and understanding modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline, dementia, and dementia-related brain changes in older adults. Dr. Power is currently receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Defense (DoD). Specifically, her current work considers how environmental pollutants or toxins contribute to accelerated cognitive deterioration in older adults and the complex relationship between life course risk factors and cognitive health. In addition to Dr. Power’s research in issues of aging, she teaches graduate courses and mentors graduate students in the Milken Institute School of Public Health.
Dr. Christina Prather, Clinical Director
Dr. Christina Prather, MD, FACP is Director of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and the Clinical Director of the GW Institute for Brain Health and Dementia. In her clinical practice, Dr. Prather is committed to providing the highest quality, patient-centered care to older adults with cognitive disorders and helping individuals living with serious illness access symptom management and achieve their highest quality of life. Dr. Prather enjoys the privilege of serving as the Geriatric Liaison to George Washington University Hospital’s Center for Trauma and Critical Care where she cares for older adult during times of acute illness and injury with an emphasis on delirium, cognitive health, and maintenance of function. As the co-director of GW’s Geriatric Memory Evaluation and Treatment Clinic, she is committed to providing person-centered care for patients and families living with memory loss to optimize function and quality of life, focusing on what matters most to individuals and their loved ones. As an educator, she is a leader in geriatric and palliative medicine education and believes that all health care professionals should be able to identify and meet the unique needs of older adults and persons with cognitive impairment. Dr. Prather believes that geriatricians play an important role in supporting families in understanding their loved one's illness and that through education and research we can improve access to care and quality of life for all seniors and their families.
Subcommittee Leadership
Dr. Robert Turner II, Chair of Community Engagement Subcommittee
Dr. Robert W. Turner II, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Neurology, at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. His current National Institute on Aging (NIA) funded K01 award examines the interrelationship between multiple measures of psychosocial and neurocognitive risk and protective factors associated with accelerated cognitive aging & mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), and Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) among former male collegiate athletes and professional football players. He is also the Principal Investigator (PI) for a NIA Health Disparities Administrative Supplement award to conduct multi-method research that assess caregiver burden by exploring whether the stress of being the primary caregiver of a person with dementia (PWD) produces cognitive dysfunction in adult and older adult Black American men. His experience as a former professional athlete and as a biobehavioral researcher provides an insightful perspective on the various factors that contribute to Black male health disparities.
Dr. Adam Ciarleglio, Co-Chair of Student Engagement Subcommittee
Dr. Adam Ciarleglio, PhD, MS is an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics. He is broadly interested in integrating functional data analysis, machine learning, and treatment regime estimation methods to address questions in public health and medical research, especially those related to mental health. He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Division of Biostatistics in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine in 2016. Prior to joining GWU, he was a faculty member in the Division of Mental Health Data Science at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and the Department of Biostatistics at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
Dr. Margaret Ulfers, Co-Chair of Student Engagement Subcommittee
Dr. Margaret Ulfers, PhD is a full-time teaching professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the George Washington University. Dr. Ulfers teaches the core principles of epidemiology and study design. She also mentors and advises MPH students as they complete their CEs. Dr. Ulfers continues to explore ways, formal and informal to better prepare students who struggle with the qualitative aspects of epidemiology and preparation for biostatistics.