Clara Vila-Castelar, Ph.D
Assistant Professor at the Multicultural Alzheimer’s Prevention Program (MAPP), Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. Vila-Castelar is a neuropsychologist at the Multicultural Alzheimer’s Prevention Program (MAPP), Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and instructor at Harvard Medical School. She completed her doctoral training in clinical psychology at Queens College, The Graduate Center (City University of New York), and her internship and postdoctoral fellowship in multicultural neuropsychology at MGH/Harvard Medical School. Her research has focused on examining risk and resilience to Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline, including sex/gender, race/ethnicity, and cultural factors. She was awarded an NIA K99/R00 grant in 2022 to examine the impact of sex and hormones on the progression of autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease. She is the co-chair of the Sex/Gender Differences Special Interest Group of the ISTAART Diversity and Disparities Professional Interest Area. Dr. Vila-Castelar also conducts neuropsychological evaluations to culturally and linguistically diverse adult individuals at the MGH Multicultural Assessment and Research Center (MARC). Dr. Vila-Castelar conducts neuropsychological evaluations to culturally and linguistically diverse adults and older adults presenting with a variety of disorders that impact cognitive functioning, including neurological/medical disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, epilepsy, brain tumors, psychiatric disorders and learning disorders/developmental disabilities.
Twitter: @ClaraVilaPhD
Publications
Major Research Interests: sex differences in Alzheimer’s disease, development of cultural neuropsychological measures, and investigating risk factors and biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease in older Latinos. Mielke MM, Aggarwal NT, Vila-Castelar C, Agarwal P, Arenaza-Urquijo EM, Brett B, Brugulat-Serrat A, DuBose LE, Eikelboom WS, Flatt J, Foldi NS, Franzen S, Gilsanz P, Li W, McManus AJ, van Lent DM, Milani SA, Shaaban CE, Stites SD, Sundermann E, Suryadevara V, Trani JF, Turner AD, Vonk JMJ, Quiroz YT, Babulal GM. Consideration of sex and gender in Alzheimer's disease and related disorders from a global perspective. Alzheimers Dement. 2022 Apr 08. PMID: 35394117. PMID: 35394117
Vila-Castelar C, Tariot PN, Sink KM, Clayton D, Langbaum JB, Thomas RG, Chen Y, Su Y, Chen K, Hu N, Giraldo-Chica M, Tobón C, Acosta-Baena N, Luna E, Londoño M, Ospina P, Tirado V, Muñoz C, Henao E, Bocanegra Y, Alvarez S, Rios-Romenets S, Ghisays V, Goradia D, Lee W, Luo J, Malek-Ahmadi MH, Protas HD, Lopera F, Reiman EM, Quiroz YT. Sex differences in cognitive resilience in preclinical autosomal-dominant Alzheimer's disease carriers and non-carriers: Baseline findings from the API ADAD Colombia Trial. Alzheimers Dement. 2022 Feb 01. PMID: 35103388. PMID: 35103388
Ghisays V, Lopera F, Goradia DD, Protas HD, Malek-Ahmadi MH, Chen Y, Devadas V, Luo J, Lee W, Baena A, Bocanegra Y, Guzmán-Vélez E, Pardilla-Delgado E, Vila-Castelar C, Fox-Fuller JT, Hu N, Clayton D, Thomas RG, Alvarez S, Espinosa A, Acosta-Baena N, Giraldo MM, Rios-Romenets S, Langbaum JB, Chen K, Su Y, Tariot PN, Quiroz YT, Reiman EM. PET evidence of preclinical cerebellar amyloid plaque deposition in autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease-causing Presenilin-1 E280A mutation carriers. Neuroimage Clin. 2021; 31:102749. PMID: 34252876. PMID: 34252876
Martinez JE, Pardilla-Delgado E, Guzmán-Vélez E, Vila-Castelar C, Amariglio R, Gatchel J, Aguirre-Acevedo DC, Bocanegra Y, Baena A, Henao E, Tirado V, Muñoz C, Giraldo-Chica M, Lopera F, Quiroz YT. Subjective Cognitive Decline and its Relation to Verbal Memory and Sex in Cognitively Unimpaired Individuals from a Colombian Cohort with Autosomal-Dominant Alzheimer's Disease. J Int Neuropsychol. Soc. 2021 Jun 30; 1-9. PMID: 34187609. PMID: 34187609