ADRC Staff

Dr. Fauth studies stress related to dementia caregiving, and assesses caregiver interventions, most recently an online self-guided ACT intervention. She also examines ways to support quality of life for persons living with dementia.

Dr. Boghosian is psychologist licensed in the state of Utah. She is the Director of Psychology Services in the Sorenson Center for Clinical Excellence at USU. Dr. Boghosian’s clinical and research expertise has spanned the past eleven years and targeted the integration of medical and mental health concerns across the lifespan and cultures. She has been involved in the in the training and supervision of psychology students in the provision of empirically supported interventions with a broad range of populations.

Dr. Bolton studies how higher brain processes contribute to balance control and falls in older adults.

Dr. Buhusi is studying disruptions in sleep cycles in people living with Alzheimer’s disease using mice that model Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline.

Dr. Buhusi is studying ways cells communicate in the brain and how this communication is altered in Alzheimer's disease and normal aging.

Dr. Crowley is a psychologist licensed in the state of Utah. She has expertise in research and intervention in chronic pain, particularly assessing functional outcomes of inpatient pain programs.  She has worked with interdisciplinary teams in both research and intervention.  In addition, Dr. Crowley has extensive experience in doctoral student training mentorship and supervision, including both research and intervention training.

Dr. Huang focuses on unraveling key cellular processes of brain-diseases (including Alzheimer's) and neuro-regeneration, through the engineering of novel human-brain tissue-chip platforms.

Dr. Jordan is studying which cognitive abilities, such as numerical estimations, are left intact during the process of typical aging compared to dementia.

Dr. Kleinstaeuber’s research and clinical work concentrates on individuals suffering from persistent somatic symptoms (e.g., chronic pain) and symptom-related emotional distress. Her research endeavors cover the evaluation of interventions to help individuals with chronic symptos managing their distress as well as on psychosocial mechanisms of symptom distress.

Dr. Yin Liu studies the chronic stress of dementia family caregiving, salivary biomarkers of stress and health, and interventions and health behaviors to reduce the impact of stressor exposures.

Dr. Nagaraj studies the effect of hearing aid use on cognition in older adults with hearing loss.

Dr. Studenka studies motor abilities and is looking at how motor planning develops over the course of the lifespan, concentrating on specific aspects of motor planning and one’s ability to change a motor plan with cognitive decline.

JoAnn Tschanz, Ph.D. is a professor of psychology and a clinical neuropsychologist with expertise in risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and related disorders and their clinical expression after onset. She has also studied cognitive decline in late life, and is the USU director of the Cache County Study on Memory in Aging.

Dr. Vargis studies beta-amyloid, which is present in the brains of people Alzheimer's disease.  She evaluates the effect of beta-amyloid buildup on cardiac muscle and retinal cell health.

Dr. Warren studies the role of norepinephrine in reactive balance and how its efficacy changes with age and in age-related disorders.