UC Irvine
Irvine, CA
David Sultzer, MD
Site PI
David Sultzer, MD, is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at UC Irvine. He leads the Clinical Core of the UCI Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, contributes to the overall clinical research mission of the UCI Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND), and directs the clinical trials program within UCI MIND. Dr. Sultzer received his medical degree at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He completed his psychiatry residency at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital and also completed his neurobehavior fellowship at UCLA. Dr. Sultzer is Principal Investigator for many ongoing clinical research projects, with interests in cognitive aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neuropsychiatric syndromes in older adults. He is widely recognized for his research to better understand the phenomenology, pathophysiology, and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, with particular focus on related psychiatric symptoms. He has used MR and PET neuroimaging to explore mechanisms involved in the expression of clinical symptoms, to assess interactions with cerebrovascular factors, and to identify prevention and treatment targets in these disorders. He has designed and completed many clinical trials to develop optimal treatments or preventive interventions for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurocognitive syndromes, including trials that target accompanying symptoms of psychosis, mood alterations, or behavioral disturbances. Dr. Sultzer has published widely in many top-tier medical journals. He has received several awards for his research work and is recognized nationally for his academic activities related to geriatric psychiatry and Alzheimer’s disease. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
Seyed Ahmad Sajjadi, MD, PhD
Site Co-PI
Dr. Seyed Sajjadi graduated from Tehran University of Medical Sciences before migrating to the United Kingdom to study at the University of Cambridge. Shortly after, he obtained a PhD in neuroscience studying primary progressive aphasia (PPA) before eventually accepting a faculty position at the department of neurology at the University of California, Irvine. Since arriving at UCI, he has become a co-investigator in the 90+ study, an ongoing study of aging and dementia in people aged 90 and older. He is on the faculty of the MiND institute, which is the parent organized research unit (ORU) that hosts UCI Alzheimer’s disease research center (ADRC). Following his interest in primary progressive aphasia, he has established a cohort of patients suffering from this condition at UCI ADRC. He is also studying the impact of cognitive impairment in the utility of common clinical outcome measures used in clinical trials of ALS drugs. Most recently, his lab has been successful in securing an NIH R01 grant to study hippocampal sclerosis of aging, an important yet less studied cause of dementia in the oldest old.
Shirley Sirivong
Site Liaison
Shirley Sirivong has been involved with the UC Irvine Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center since 1994. She currently serves as a clinical research operations manager at UC Irvine. Like many research participants and families, Shirley has a personal family history of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and is motivated and deeply committed to reduce barriers to clinical research participation and to help make a difference in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.