Mentors: Meredith Wallace, PhD, Daniel Buysse, MD, & Meryl Butters, PhD
- PhD, Psychology (Clinical Science), University of Michigan (2023); BA, Biological Sciences and Psychology, Northwestern University (2014)
Education & Training
Afsara (she/her) is a postdoctoral scholar in the Translational Research Training in Sleep Medicine T32 program. She received her doctorate in Psychology (Clinical Science) from the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan and completed her predoctoral internship in Clinical Psychology (Adult Neuropsychology track) at UCLA. Broadly, Afsara's research program focuses on inequities in cognitive aging and investigating biopsychosocial factors (e.g., neighborhood quality, discrimination, social support, depression, sleep disorders) over the life-course that confer risk or resilience against late-life cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Afsara's current work aims to understand how sleep health and disorders may contribute to late-life cognitive health and ADRD as well as disparities in these health outcomes across racial/ethnic, sex, and intersectional groups. Ultimately, she hopes that this work will inform the development of targeted interventions aimed at promoting healthy cognitive aging and preventing inequities in ADRD.