Our research team is responsible for coordinating clinical trials — in doing so they are the liaisons between our center and the community participating in clinical research.
Assistant Project Scientist
Dr. Bayram obtained her medical degree and consequently her PhD in Neurosciences from Ankara University, Turkey. After one year research fellowship at Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, with a focus on Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, she joined our team as a research fellow in 2019. In 2021, she transitioned to a project scientist position and she currently serves as a researcher in our team. Her research interests include sex differences and cognition in neurodegenerative diseases. She is also interested in teaching and expanding educational resources to non-English speaking patients and clinicians.
Nurse Practitioner
Gail Reiner joined UC San Diego Department of Neurosciences in 2009 as Family Nurse Practitioner with a Doctorate in Nursing from the University of San Diego participating in mitochondrial medicine, neonatal seizures, tic disorders, and Smith-Magenis Syndrome (SMS) research and clinical practice with Dr. Richard Haas. She is certified to provide Comprehensive Behavior Intervention for Tics (CBIT). Gail has given invited talks for SMS families for 12 years with Dr. Ann Smith (NIHGR/NIH) in the US, England and Australia and has participated in humanitarian projects in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Honduras, Mexico and Estonia. She also volunteers as a brown-card chaplain at Donovan State Prison.
Research Manager
Ileana Rubio is a graduate of UC San Diego and has worked for UC San Diego Health for most of her professional career. Ms. Rubio started in the Department of Medicine as a Registered Sleep Polysomnographer and then as a Clinical Research Supervisor in the Division of Pulmonary Vascular Medicine where she managed multiple clinical trials. In 2018, Ileana transitioned to the Department of Neuroscience - Parkinson and Other Movement Disorders Center as the Program's Research Manager.
Clinical Research Coordinator
Christina graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Science in Cell and Developmental Biology. She began her career in research in 2007 at UC Irvine and has since been a study coordinator on over 45 Clinical Trials in the fields of neurology, psychiatry and rheumatology.
Clinical Research Coordinator
Jenny Perales, she just started in September 2021. Jenny has been with UC San Diego for 21 years and started out at Perlman and Thornton lab as a lab assistant and bone marrow tech. She has been a research coordinator for 11 years and looks forward to many more.
Clinical Research Coordinator
Jasmin graduated from CSU San Marcos in 2018 with a B.S. in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Physiology. She began with Infectious Disease clinical research at the Naval Medical Center San Diego in 2019 and transitioned to the UC San Diego Movement Disorders Center in October 2021.
Clinical Trials Regulatory Research Associate
Natt is a graduate of UC San Diego with a BS in Animal Physiology and Neuroscience. He started in pre- clinical animal studies research focusing on Alzheimer's Disease, then transitioned into coordinating trials in multiple therapeutic areas. He has also managed inpatient central nervous systems trials primarily concentrating in the areas of mental health. He joined the Parkinson & Other Movement Disorders Center in the Summer on 2019 as a Clinical Trials Regulatory Research Associate.
Clinical Trials Research Associate
Michael graduated from UC San Diego in 2021 with a Bachelor's degree in Cognitive Psychology. He began research at Cerro Coso Community College as an institutional student research before transferring to UC San Diego and working at the Moores Cancer Center as a student. After completing his undergraduate studies, he has joined the Movement Disorders Center as a Research Associate.
Clinical Trials Research Associate
Alonzo graduated from UC San Diego with a B.S in Public Health. He began research at the Shiley Marcos ADRC and at the SOL-INCA lab during his undergraduate career studying Dementia and other related disorders. During that time, he also worked in Parkinson's disease as a student research assistant and later transitioned into a Research Associate at the Movement Disorders Center after completing his undergraduate studies.
Clinical Trials Research Assistant
Reilly graduated from the University of Florida in 2021 with a B.S. in Biology and graduated from Georgetown University in 2022 with a M.S. in Physiology and Biophysics. She began research at the University of Florida Diabetes Institute and transitioned to Classic Galactosemia research for Emory University School of Medicine before joining the UCSD Movement Disorders Center in September 2022.