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Elizabeth Zelinski, Ph.D.
Rita and Edward Polusky Chair in Education and Aging
Professor of Gerontology and Psychology, University of Southern California
- Long Beach Longitudinal Study (LBLS) Principal Investigator
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Elizabeth Zelinski, Ph.D., born in Brooklyn, NY, graduated
summa cum laude with a B.A. degree in Psychology from Pace University (New York, NY), and continued her education
at the University of Southern California, where she secured both her M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology. She has devoted
most of her time afterwards to discovering ways to improve the quality of life for everyone (particularly
older adults), focusing on memory, cognition, and the use of cognitive training and games for older adults.
Dr. Zelinski was the Associate Dean/Director of the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology from
1999 to 2004, and continued as a Dean from 2004 to 2006. In addition, she was the Scientific Advisor for
the Nintendo Corporation in 2005, and since 2006 she has been been the Scientific Advisor to Posit Science
Corporation.
Dr. Zelinski hopes to continue her current research well into the future.
Amongst her numerous interests, Dr. Zelinski enjoys gardening, cooking, camping, hiking, traveling,
theatre, yoga, Trojan football, and Eastern philosophies. In 2007, she started to learn to play the piano with no
previous musical training -- she aspires to someday be able to play a song using both hands without making mistakes.
Additionally, her two sons (ages 18 and 22) keep her thoroughly entertained.
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email Elizabeth Zelinski |
Phone (toll-free): 1 (888) 748-0828 |
Fax: (213) 740-5694
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Robert Kennison, Ph.D.
Research Associate, University of Southern California
Assistant Professor of Psychology, California State University, Los Angeles
- LBLS Co-Principal Investigator
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Robert Kennison, Ph.D., is a southern California native born in Fullerton, California, received
his B.A. and M.A. degrees from California State University, Fullerton. He obtained his Ph.D.
in Cognitive Psychology from Claremont Graduate University, following which he joined the Long
Beach Longitudinal Study under a post-doctoral fellowship guided by Dr. Elizabeth Zelinski.
Dr. Kennison's research focuses on memory and aging. He has published 15 journal articles and
2 chapters in edited books. At California State University, Los Angeles, where he currently holds
an Assistant Professor position in Psychology, he teaches courses on aging, cognition, and
statistics.
During his free time, Dr. Kennison enjoys travel, photography, and cooking.
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email Robert Kennison |
Phone: (213) 821-5390 |
Fax: (213) 740-6223
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Sumera Raoof, M.D.
Research Associate, University of Southern California
- LBLS Project Administrative Specialist
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Sumera Raoof, M.D. was born in
Karachi, Pakistan. She received her medical degree from Dow Medical College, also located
in Karachi, Pakistan. She has been with the Long Beach Longitudinal Study since 2007.
Dr. Raoof's research interests are focused on Clinical Research. Regarding
personal interests, she enjoys creative cooking and spending time with her son and daughter. Other interests include
oil painting, crochet, interior decorating, traveling/exploring, volunteering, event organizing, mentoring,
and fashion and design.
Dr. Raoof also has her own column, where she muses over medical advancements,
discusses the latest health trends, and offers useful advice. You can access it
HERE.
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email Sumera Raoof
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Teresa Diaz
Research Associate, University of Southern California
- LBLS Project Assistant
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Teresa Diaz received her Master of Science degree
from the University of Oregon in Interdisciplinary Studies and wrote her master's thesis on family relationships
in the criminal justice system. She brings excellent investigative skills to her position as project coordinator
for the Long Beach Longitudinal Study and describes herself as a creative problem solver. She has been in research
since 1999 and joined the Long Beach Study in 2010.
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email Teresa Diaz
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Sarah Dalton
Graduate Student, Gerontology, University of Southern California
- LBLS Research Consultant
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Sarah Dalton is a PhD student in Gerontology at the
University of Southern California.
Sarah Dalton was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois' Southside and has had no trouble adjusting to life in beautiful Southern California. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received a bachelor's of science in Psychology in 2008.
Sarah's research interests center on the psychology and neurobiology of aging, including normal changes in memory, perception, cognition, and metacognition across the lifespan as well as with the progression of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. She is also interested in developing better measures of cognition in late age and studying mediators to cognitive decline such as cognitive training programs, video games, and cardiovascular exercise.
When she is not in the lab, Sarah enjoys bike riding, wine tasting, hiking, traveling, and cheering on the Chicago Cubs.
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email Sarah Dalton
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Shoshana Hindin
Ph.D. Candidate, Gerontology, University of Southern California
- LBLS Research Consultant
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Shoshana Hindin grew up in central Ohio. She earned a bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Following, Shoshana worked for Dr. Liz Stine-Morrow at UIUC and became interested in aging and cognition. She moved to Los Angeles and began study at the Davis School of Gerontology to pursue these interests.
Shoshana's research is focused on explaining normative cognitive changes in older adults. She is also interested in studying the benefits of cognitive training programs.
Shoshana's first first-author paper is a meta-analysis comparing repetitive cognitive training and aerobic exercise on untrained cognitive tasks.
Her dissertation will be to describe and explain changes in the ability to identify accurate word meanings in older adulthood.
When Shoshana has time, she enjoys reading about current events, history, and places, watching documentaries, and cooking new dishes. She finds peace through yoga, hiking, and running.
She loves spending time with her fiance when he is in town.
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email Shoshana Hindin
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Kevin Petway
Ph.D. Candidate, Psychology, University of Southern California
- LBLS Data Consultant
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Kevin Petway, born and raised in Virginia,
received his B.A. in Psychology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia.
He stayed in Charlottesville, Virginia
afterwards to work with Professor Timothy Salthouse at the Cognitive Aging Lab, and remained
there for one year before deciding
to move to southern California in the summer of 2007. Soon thereafter he began
assisting Professor Elizabeth Zelinski in her
Long Beach Longitudinal Study.
Kevin is currently working on his doctoral degree in Quantitative Psychology at the
University of Southern California. He hopes to become a professor of psychology, or continue research
as a research associate or postdoctoral researcher. His research interests include personality and
motivation -- specifically, ways to measure personality and motivation.
In his free time, Kevin likes to run, hike nearby mountains, listen to or play music, kid around in
the ocean, take pictures, cook, and watch tv shows on dvd. He also enjoys pondering the metaphysical.
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email Kevin Petway
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Peter Lancellotti
Research Associate, University of Southern California
- LBLS Project Assistant
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Former Researchers and Assistants
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Danielle Hall
Mia Harrison
Melissa Martin
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