Rankin Lab

Lab member Bailey Ortiz just published a new paper in Journal of Alzheimer's Disease @journal_ad: "Unveiling discrepancies in depression detection among persons with dementia: A comparative analysis of caregiver and self-report"🎉😄🍾✨ Our study found that in over one-third of individuals with early-stage dementia, patients and their caregivers disagree on whether the patient is depressed. Notably, caregivers especially overlook the patient's more internalized depression symptoms like hopelessness, and mistakenly assume depression is simply apathy. This study highlights the importance of integrating both self- and caregiver-reports about the patient's mood to ensure depression is detected and treated right when it appears. ➡️Read here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13… @UCSFmac @AlzNorCalNorNev

We are pleased to share our Behind the Paper piece on our recent Communications Medicine publication🎉: Before We Measure It, We Must First See It: Recognizing Right Temporal FTD Right temporal frontotemporal dementia has long resisted neat classification. In this Behind the Paper article, we describe how a multinational expert working group came together to define this complex and often elusive syndrome — and why precise clinical recognition is essential for advancing biomarker and mechanistic research. This work represents a global consensus effort to harmonize terminology and improve recognition of right temporal FTD across cultures and healthcare systems. 📌Read the full story here: communities.springernature.com/posts/before-w…

We are THRILLED to share that lab member @UCSFmac Dr. Yu (Sherry) Chen has been awarded an NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from @NIHAging ! 🎉 Her project will map how cerebellar-cortical networks influence social cognition and disease progression in @FTD, advancing new network-based models of neurodegeneration. Huge congratulations, @Sherry_YuChen! So well deserved! 👏

Congrats🎉 to Rankin Lab member Bailey Ortiz for presenting a poster on approaches to more accurately identify depression in persons with dementia (PWD) last week at #INS2026inPhiladelphia! @INSneuro @UCSFmac

PAU student and lab member Angie Quagletti gave an amazing talk last week at #INS2026inPhiladelphia highlighting her research on social cognition profiles in early-stage behavioral variant versus typical early onset Alzheimer’s👏 @INSneuro @UCSFmac @AlzNorCalNorNev

The latest research from the International Working Group on clinical recognition of frontotemporal dementia with right temporal predominance has just been published with @SpringerNature in @CommsMedicine! Read it here: rdcu.be/eUn72 @UCSFmac @alzassociation @AFTDHope

"The Connected Cerebellum: Mapping Social and Cognitive Networks in Neurodegeneration" by Sherry Chen, MD, PhD UC San Francisco Memory and Aging Center Grand Rounds Monday, Oct. 13, 10-11am PT register 👉 buff.ly/2VSfS8h @Rankin_Lab

📢We are excited to share Fulbright scholar @lktraChatz88354's innovative paper on the predictive value of social cognition testing for 1-year follow-up functional outcomes in bvFTD, recently published in the Journal of Neurology!☀️ link.springer.com/article/10.100… #bvFTD #Neuroimaging

🎶 “I decided to give my father a voice—through music.” Atlantic Fellow @idilozkan explores the emotional world of dementia through original compositions like "Fragments of Memories" and "Passage to Ghostland." More via @Being_Patient_: beingpatient.com/idil-ozkan-mus…

What if dementia could tell its own story? "Fragments of Memories" is a new work by Atlantic Fellow İdil Özkan that blends music, theater, and AI to explore dementia from the inside out. Premieres June 18 in San Francisco with a post-show panel. 🎟️gbhi.org/events/fragmen…

Congrats to Rankin Lab postdoc and GBHI fellow Aaron Colverson @acolverson1 for presenting his poster on music and aging at the AAIC Satellite Symposium in Lima, Peru🇵🇪 last week! @alzassociation @AlzNorCalNorNev @UCSF @GBHI_Fellows @atlanticfellows #aging #music #dementia

Respecting others—especially across cultures—can change us, and even change our brains. 🧠🌍 #AtlanticFellows Carlos Orellana Díaz, Carolina Bidó & @DamasMlaki, w/ guest Kate Rankin, led a salon on #Respect @UCSFmac exploring its role in leadership & brain health equity.

Rankin Lab had a strong presence in New Orleans last week at #INS2025 where members gave engaging talks and presented wonderful posters relating to social cognitive performance in aging and neurodegenerative diseases! @INSneuro @UCSFmac

@acolverson1 and @ElijahRock gave an incredible Alzheimer's Association talk yesterday on music and the brain in which they discussed research on music and dementia🎶 @alzassociation @ISTAART

Rankin Lab postdoc @acolverson1 spoke at the Metropolitan Club of San Francisco Tuesday about how "Musicking" improves brain health in aging, and he also gave a talk yesterday at the Gerontological Society of America!

tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10… 📢Check out our latest paper exploring how socioemotional dysfunction can lead to more impartial and altruistic decision-making. @UCSFmac @Rankin_Lab 🌴

Rankin Lab postdocs Hulya Ulugut and Sherry Chen @Sherry_YuChen delivering shining presentations at #ISFTD24 describing their research on the behavioral neurology and brain networks of socioemotional symptoms! @isftd #isftd2024

We are so excited that Rankin Lab member @acolverson1 will be a part of this year's GBHI cohort!

So proud of Rankin Lab members Dr. Sherry Chen @Sherry_YuChen , Dr. Aaron Colverson @acolverson1 and Dr. Hulya Ulugut who gave outstanding presentations at #aaic2024 in Philadelphia last week! @alzassociation @AlzNorCalNorNev @UCSFmac #ALZFunding

I'm thrilled to share our latest paper, the first to describe the neuroanatomic correlates of itching in patients with FTLD. A huge thank you to the amazing team at GBHI, UCSF! #AtlanticFellows @GBHI_Fellows @brucemillerucsf @brainsturming @Rankin_Lab @victorvalcour