"Our team works to protect the memory, what we inherit from our grandparents and that runs in our blood. Memory requires of the senses to be activated, that is why when we smell something we can be transported to other moment and place. In addition to remember, the arts help us to reach a sublime place in the universe"

Dr. Gladys Maestre

Gladys Maestre, MD, PhD, is the Director of the South Texas Alzheimer Disease Research Center (STAC) and Alzheimer's Disease Resources Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) 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