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Prof. Sharon Sanz Simon, Ph.D.

 

Prof. Sharon Sanz Simon, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist and researcher in aging, neurosciences, and mental health. She is an Assistant Professor at Rutgers University (Newark), in the Department of Psychiatry, New Jersey Medical School. She is also a core member of the Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at the Brain Health Institute, Rutgers University.

 

Dr. Simon earned her Ph.D. from the University of São Paulo (Brazil), a Research Fellowship in Neuropsychiatry at Harvard University (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Columbia University.

 

Dr. Simon is passionate about empowering communities through scieence, undertandinf risk and resilience/protective factors for cognitive aging and dementia. Also, she dedicates her time in developing effective intervetions to improvee mental & brain health in older adults, including vupnerable and underrepresented populations. 

 

Currently, she is a member of the US Consortium of Aging, Dementia & Latino Studies. Her research is funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Brazilian Government (CNPQ).

 

She is the principal investigator of the BRAINY-NJ Study (Brazilian Aging in New York-New Jersey Study), which investigate risk and resilience factors for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia among U.S.-Brazilian communities; and is the principal investigator of the MUST Study (MUltitasking Strategy Training Study), a digital clinical trial investigating the effects a multitasking ability training in older adults (K99/R00 Award NIH).

 

Publications

Honors & Awards
  • R00 Award (Clinical Trial – R00AG078561); National Institute on Aging, 2025-2028
  • CAHBIR 2024 Pilot Award (Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research) – BHI Rutgers University
  • K99 Award (Clinical Trial – K99AG078561; National Institute on Aging, 2022-2024
  • Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship to Promote Diversity, 2024-2027
  • IMPACT-AD Fellow: Institute on Methods Protocols for Advancement of Clinical Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease and Rel. Dementia, 2022
  • Butler-Williams Program Scholar, National Institute on Aging, 2021
  • Nelson Butters Award, International Neuropsychological Society, 2019
  • Laird S. Cermak Award, International Neuropsychological Society, 2017