Gladys Maestre, MD, PhD, is the Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Resources Center for Minority Aging Research and a Professor of Neuroscience at the UTRGV School of Medicine. Dr. Maestre previously served as visiting professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the G.H. Sergievsky Center in Columbia University. Dr. Maestre received a Doctor of Medicine degree from University of Zulia. She received both her Masters in Genetic Epidemiology and her PhD in pathobiology from Columbia University. She recently completed her Masters of Arts in Neuroarchitecture from Iuav University of Venice. Dr. Maestre is a neuroscientist who has worked with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias for more than 20 years. She is the PI of the Maracaibo Aging Study, a unique community-based cohort of individuals who have undergone in-depth assessments for cognitive, neuroimaging, and cardiovascular traits since 1997. As PI on several NIA and Fogarty International Center funded grants, her research has explored cultural, educational, and genetic risks for Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline, as well as cognitive function and health among minorities and ethnically diverse populations across the life span.

Dr. Glady’s Maestre is an active researcher focused on Alzheimer’s dementia and related disorders in low-resource settings in the United States and in low and middle-income countries (LMCIs).She has conducted capacity-building activities for brain health in the Americas, including Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, and Haiti, and in Africa, where she has been organizing a biannual conference for more than 15 years with my colleague Dr. Raj Kalaria, in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss research and care priorities for LMCIs and to support the development of research networks focused on dementia in Africa.She has authored several books and more than 100 peer-reviewed articles