UC San Diego Shiley-Marcos ADRC Staff

* Bilingual Staff (English and Spanish)

Clinical Staff

*Beverly Castillo graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a BS in Physiology and Neuroscience (Class of 2020). Her career in clinical research began in 2017 as a lab assistant in the Functional Neuroscience Lab at UCSD, where she became the study coordinator in 2021. During her time there, she studied the effects of EEG-neurofeedback on working memory within schizophrenia disorders and mild cognitive impairment. Her involvement in these clinical trials furthered her interest in neuropsychology, neurodegenerative disease, and an overall effort towards improving participants' quality of life. Currently at the SMADRC, she is a research coordinator for the longitudinal study with a primary role on the center's brain autopsy program.

Nichol Ferng, B.S completed her B.S. degree in Cognitive Science, Neuroscience at UC San Diego. She has worked at UCLA, using structural and functional MRI to study the varying stages of Schizophrenia. She joined the ADRC as a study coordinator and has been using MRI to look at memory functions in patients with Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.

Jennifer (Jen) Frascino, MA was born in Connecticut and graduated from UC San Diego with a Bachelor’s in Psychology in 1993. Following, she earned a Masters in Counseling Psychology before finding her way into research in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSD. Just prior to coming to the ADRC, she worked for 25 years as the Research Coordinator in a laboratory examining the organization and structure of memory by way of studying well-characterized patients with amnesia. Jen currently works as a study coordinator at the ADRC on a project involving vascular contributions to cognitive impairment. She is also the coordinator for the UCSD site of the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI).

*Antonio (Tony) Gama has been in the medical field for over 20 years. Tony received his Medical Assistant and Phlebotomy Certification in 2000 and earned an AS degree in Allied Health in 2012. Tony began his medical career with Navy Medicine as a civilian and worked with Navy Medicine for over 17 years. In his capacity as a medical assistant/phlebotomist, Tony has worked with retirees, dependents, recruits and active-duty members of the Army, United States Coast Guard, Navy, and Marines. Tony’s experience includes working with such clinical departments as pediatrics, podiatry, and sports medicine, as well as in urgent care, laboratory, and clinic settings. Tony has been teaching phlebotomy at U.S. colleges since 2012, and he has won Instructor of the Quarter multiple times for Best Student Retention and Highest NHA Pass Rate.

 Savannah Hargrave graduated with her bachelors in Biology for Southern Utah University. She is beginning her pursuits in clinical research here, at the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer's Center. She spent her undergraduate years dedicated to science communication and education efforts. She hopes to continue to develop these skills as she advances her knowledge and exposure to neurodegenerative disease research.

*Camila Lino was born in Chula Vista, California, and raised in Tijuana, Mexico, until age 10. She earned her degrees in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychology from UC San Diego in 2018. Since graduation, Camila has worked with UCSD, focusing on multi-disciplinary, longitudinal research. Before joining SMADRC, she conducted clinical interviews, collected brain MRI scans, and administered neuropsychological assessments for adolescents under the guidance of Dr. Susan Tapert. Additionally, she served as the primary contact for Spanish-speaking families and played a key role in retaining hard-to-reach participants. Her extensive experience with multicultural participants equips her to work effectively within diverse communities.

*Lillian O. Pacheco, BS received her Bachelor of Science in Health Administration. She is a US Navy Veteran and first joined UCSD in 2002, Dept. of Anatomic Pathology, followed by a decade long in the Dept. Radiology as a Clinical Research Manager, under the direction of the MRI center Director and Dept. Chair, focusing on Federal and Industry funded clinical trials, observational studies in body, brain, and musculoskeletal imaging, as well as MRI research center operations. She joined the SMADRC in 2015 as the Lead Clinical Research Coordinator for the Alzheimer’s Longitudinal Study and management of Diverse Cognitive related studies focusing on minoritized populations in the Latino and African American community. Lillian aims to ensure the safety and comfort of research participants as well as the integrity and validity of research data.

*Brandon Pulido, BA received a degree from UC, Los Angeles in 2015. After graduating, he worked at the Semel Neuroscience Institute at UCLA as a Bilingual Research Assessor conducting assessments designed to measure intelligence and impulsiveness in young children. Additionally, as his interests revolve around neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, he worked as a research assistant, and later an author, on a study focusing on Traumatic Brain Injuries. Brandon has worked at the SMADRC at UC San Diego since 2017 as a bilingual psychometrist and study coordinator.

Charlotte Rivera graduated from UC San Diego with a Bachelor’s in Clinical Psychology in 2017. She began her professional career in the Department of Psychiatry in a laboratory investigating cognitive impairments in patients with hippocampal and larger medial temporal lobe damage. In 2021, she transferred to the Department of Neurosciences where she manages multiple projects investigating cognitive and microstructural changes in preclinical Alzheimer's disease.

Neuropsychology Staff

*Britney Escobedo, BS graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego (2024).  Her journey in the field of clinical psychology started as a lab assistant in Dr. Tamar Gollan's Laboratory of Aging Bilingualism. In this role, Britney contributed to various experiments at different stages, with diverse protocols, and gained insights into bilingual cognitive language switching costs. Her time in Dr. Gollan’s lab allowed her to develop an interest in neuropsychology research and neurodegenerative diseases. Britney serves as a bilingual psychometrist, administering and rating neuropsychological batteries, and plans on continuing her education by pursuing a Ph.D. in  Clinical Psychology. 

 Chi Kim, BS received his degree from the University of California, San Diego in Cognitive Science. He provides training and oversight to the neuropsychology team as a psychometrist supervisor. He is the psychometry supervisor and providees all training and oversight for the neuropsychology staff. He also administers neuropsychological testing for a wide array of studies at the ADRC, including intervention trials. Additionally, he provides technical and computer expertise for the ADRC and Trials Unit staff.

*Jocelyn Vargas recently graduated from UC San Diego with a degree in Applied Mathematics and a minor in Psychology. She worked as a bilingual research assistant in Dr. Tamar Gollan’s language production lab, which led her to discover an interest in research and psychology. Her interest in neuropsychology specifically developed while taking a class to learn more about the effects of injury to the brain due to a personal experience. She is now a bilingual psychometrist at the SMADRC. In the future, her goal is to find a way to combine her math degree and interest in research.

Social Work Staff

Tracey Truscott, MSW LCSW, graduated from San Diego State University with an undergraduate degree in Psychology, and Master's Degrees in Education and Social Work. Her 20-year career has been focused on working in the Alzheimer's community and with older adults in direct clinical practice as well as Hospice Administration. Tracey comes to the ADRC team as a Clinical Social Worker. Her role includes facilitating support groups and talking to people about research opportunities at the ADRC. In her spare time she enjoys a private practice that provides clinical supervision and education to other social workers and marriage/family therapists to improve their practice.

Biostatistics Staff and Data Management Staff

Ben Shifflett, MS joined the ADRC in 2017 and received a BS in Physics (2017) and MS in Biostatistics (2023) from the University of California, San Diego. Ben assists with various ADRC projects by performing statistical analyses and summarizing results to faculty and research staff. Ben also helps with maintaining the ADRC database and processing neuroimaging data. 

Administration Staff

Christina Gigliotti, PhD, received a BS in Human Development (2000), a BS in Horticulture (2001), and her MS/PhD in Human Development (2006) from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where she also earned a certificate in Gerontology, studying non-pharmacological interventions, including Horticulture Therapy, for people with dementia. She is the Manager of Clinical Operations at the ADRC, responsible for developing standardized procedures to enhance research quality and compliance. She is greatly involved with the SMADRC outreach, education, and recruitment initiatives, serves as the referral coordinator between the ADRC and affiliated researchers, and provides oversight for the SMADRC volunteer program and the staff education programs.

Emily Little, MPH, holds a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Mills College and a Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has been the UCSD Shiley-Marcos ADRC Program Director and since 2014. Her goal is to be helpful in sustaining, enriching, and expanding programs that the Shiley-Marcos ADRC has developed over the last 40 years.

Trials Unit Staff

Jackie de Villiers Flanagan, MA, was born in Johannesburg South Africa however, moved to the United States when she was only two. First living in New Jersey then Connecticut and finally ending up in San Diego at the age of eight. She graduated from San Diego State University with a BA in psychology and a Master of Arts degree in Communication. Jackie's work experience began as a nanny, then as a certified nurse's assistant at Scripps Mercy ICU and finally as a research assistant to Dr. Wayne Beach at SDSU. After receiving her MA, she began working as a study coordinator at the ADCS at UCSD. Recently, Jackie joined our Shiley-Marcos UCSD ADRC team as a Regulatory Affairs Coordinator.

Sandra Jerkins, BS graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science in psychology. She is currently a rater and recruiter for the clinical trials unit working on innovative trial studies to find an effective treatment, prevention, and cure for Alzheimer's disease. She has several years of experience working as a psychometrist/clinical trial rater and her interests have always revolved around neurodegenerative diseases (including Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease). She is excited to start working this fall with the Down Syndrome population in aim to assess changes in cognition, behavior, function, and health in adults with AD-DS.

Barbara Johnson, MS is a Lead Clinical Trials Coordinator at the Shiley-Marcos ADRC (SMADRC) in the Clinical Trials Unit. She began her study of memory and brain function at UCLA where she obtained her BS in Psychobiology. Barbara then worked as a research assistant at UCR studying cerebral lateralization of language in the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. During graduate school, she studied normal aging at the UCSD VA hospital and worked on a variety of memory and Alzheimer's Disease research projects at the ADRC. After completing her MA, Barbara worked as a psychometrist at UCI on the 90+ research study; her primary role was obtaining data from older individuals to help determine what lifestyle factors may contribute to longevity. She eventually returned to UCSD to work in the Department of Psychiatry as a coordinator in Schizophrenia research. This research investigated the effectiveness of cognitive behavior social skills training in both individual and group therapy sessions to help those with Schizophrenia and other mental illnesses improve their functional abilities to lead better and more productive lives. 

Nobuko Kemmotsu, PhD completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology in 2010 from the Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at San Diego State University and University of California San Diego. Her focus during the doctoral training was neuropsychological assessment of adults and ethnic minorities. After she completed a 1-year psychology internship at Shands Hospital at University of Florida, she returned to San Diego to continue research and neuropsychological assessment. Nobuko is a licensed psychologist in the state of California. At ADRC, Nobuko serves in the clinical trials team as one of the main cognitive raters for various clinical trials.

*Laura Linares is a Certified Clinical Research Coordinator with an international Pharmacy degree from the University of Copenhagen. She has more than 13 years of Research coordinator experience at UCSD. She was born and raised  in Argentina and also lived in Denmark for many years, where she worked in Pharmaceutical industry and Community Pharmacies, before she moved to San Diego with her family. She has a passion for patient communication and she would love to help to improve research participants quality of life through SMADRC clinical trials.

Daniel Szpak, RN, joined the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) as a Clinical Research Nurse with over 15 years of experience managing clinical trials and research staff in oncology, psychology, and HIV at UC San Diego. He earned a B.A. in Journalism from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and worked as a Human Resources Manager prior to earning his A.D.N. with honors from Los Angeles County/USC School of Nursing in 2001. Fulfilling his long term career goal of offering hope to individuals and their families at the ADRC, Daniel is honored to be part of such a dedicated and compassionate team in search of new ways to prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease.