People

Director

Director

Dr. Helen Lavretsky is a Professor In-Residence in the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA and a geriatric integrative psychiatrist with federally funded research program in geriatric depression and integrative mental health (NIMH, PCORI, and NCCIH) using mind-body interventions. She is a recipient of the Career Development award from NIMH and the NCCIH, and other prestigious research awards. Her current research studies include investigations of psychopharmacological treatment of geriatric depression, mild cognitive impairment and the use of Tai Chi and yoga for treatment and prevention of late-life mood and cognitive disorders. She is the Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and the Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and the recipient of the Distinguished Investigator awards for research in geriatric psychiatry from the American College of Psychiatrists and the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. She is the Semel Scholar in Integrative Mental Health and the Director of the Late-life mood, stress and wellness program and the Integrative Psychiatry clinic

Links
semel.ucla.edu/latelife
semel.ucla.edu/integrativementalhealth
uclahealth.org/integrative-medicine
www.ajgponline.org/article/S1064-7481(20)30439-5/fulltext

Faculty

Faculty

Faculty

Faculty

Dr. Katherine Narr is a Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA and a faculty member of the Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, a neuroimaging program and resource within the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Narr's research has centered on using multimodal imaging, including structural, functional and diffusion imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1HMRS) to advance understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms associated with depression, schizophrenia and other complex psychiatric conditions in adults and children. A primary focus of her current research includes targeting imaging predictors and correlates of rapidly acting therapeutic response in depressive disorders.

Statistician

Statistician

I am an applied biostatistician - I design studies, formulate hypotheses, do power calculations, analyze data, interpret and report results and write grants. I concentrate on data from medicine, public health, and biology; in particular, I have developed and applied novel statistical methods in mood disorders, Alzheimer's disease, memory and aging, traumatic brain injury, pediatric epilepsy, learning and communication disorders, and schizophrenia. I am fascinated by early neuroimaging and genomic biomarkers of these disorders that can be useful for designing preventive and treatment approaches. I have also worked in other fields such as environmental health and kinesiology, and I even have experience modeling stock markets! This variety is precisely what makes me passionate about statistics. That, and the people - I love meeting and talking to people about their projects and working closely with them to understand and visualize their data.

Research Associates

Research Associate

Michaela M. Milillo is the current Research Coordinator of the Late-Life Wellness Tai Chi Depression Study and Coordinating Manager of the Conference on Integrative Medicine & Mental Health. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2018 with a degree in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. After completing her postbac in the lab, Michaela plans to apply to psychology and neuroscience PhD programs to pursue a position in a multi-modal, interdisciplinary neuroimaging laboratory. She is interested in psychiatric research, with a particular interest in studying schizophrenia and psychosis as a whole.

Research Associate

Research Associate

Volunteers:

  • Devin Patel
  • Carlos Landaverde
  • Vaidehi Ramanarayanan

Interested in volunteering?
Please call (310) 825-1333 or email latelifewellness@mednet.ucla.edu to express interest & to find out if you would be a good fit for our lab!