Skip to main content

wix

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), at the Department of Psychiatry, New Jersey Medical School. She is also a core member of the Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at the Brain Health Institute, Rutgers University. She 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 in Cognitive Neuroscience from Columbia University. Dr. Simon is passionate about empowering communities through science and developing interventions to improve mental & brain health in aging, including vulnerable 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 Aging (NIH) and the Alzheimer’s Association. She is the principal investigator of the BRAINY-NJ Study (Brazilian Aging in New York-New Jersey Study), which aims to investigate risk and resilience factors for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia among U.S.-Brazilian communities (Alzheimer’s Association). She is also the principal investigator of the MUST Study (MUltitasking Strategy Training Study), a clinical trial investigating the effects of a web-based cognitive training program targeting multitasking abilities in older adults (K99/R00 Award NIA).

Publications

Honors & Awards

  • K99/R00 Award (Clinical Trial); National Institute on Aging, 2022-2027
  • 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