Denise C. Park
Denise C. Park is an American neuroscientist. She is the head of the Aging Mind Lab,[1] the Principal Investigator of the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study (DLBS),[2] and a Distinguished University Chair of the School and Behavioral and Brain Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas.[3]
Education
Denise Park earned her Bachelor's degree in psychology from Albion College, and she earned her Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the State University of New York at Albany at the age of 25.[4]
Career
Denise Park began as an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she worked for eight years.[5] She was the recruited by the University of Georgia,[5] where she began to study the effects of context with regards to the aging brain. From 1985 to 1994, Dr. Park was awarded over $1 million in funds for her research.[6] From 1995 to 2002, she worked for the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, eventually transitioning from context-related research to the effects of aging on visual memory in 2001. In this time, she received over $2 million in funds[6] She then moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2002 to 2006, continuing her focus on visual memory and aging until 2006, where she changed her focus to dedifferentiation and memory with the effects of aging. In her time at the University of Illinois, she received over $2 million in funds for her research.[6] In 2007, she moved once again to the University of Texas at Dallas and began working on the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study in 2008.[6] The DLBS is in its third wave as of February 10th, 2022.[2]
Aging Mind Lab
Currently, the Aging Mind Lab is researching how aging affects brain structure and function, the earliest possible detection of Alzheimer's disease, and how to intervene to slow the brain's decline.[1]
Dallas Lifespan Brain Study
Two preliminary findings of the DLBS include that a busy lifestyle may be linked to improved brain function in old age, especially regarding working memory, vocabulary, and reasoning; and that amyloid buildup decreases recall and recognition memory independent from the age group of the subject.[1][5]
References
- Weir, Kirsten (December 2018). "American Psychologist - Decoding the Aging Brain". American Psychological Association.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Rofsky, Neil (February 10, 2020). "Cognitive Decline and Alzheimer's Disease in the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study". Clinical Trials.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Aschwanden, Christie (March 7, 2021). "Washington Post - What Really Works to Help". The Washington Post.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Huseman, J (September 30, 2011). "Facetime: UT-Dallas' Denise Park". Dallas Business Journal.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Worley, Will (May 19, 2016). "Independent - Busy people have improved cognitive function in old age, study says". Independent.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "Dallas Lifespan Brain Study-Wave 3: Neurodegeneration & Resilience in Cognition". NIH RePORTER.
Further reading
- Weir, Kirsten (December 2018). "Decoding the aging brain". Monitor on Psychology. Vol. 49, no. 11. American Psychological Association. p. 72.