Raina Croff, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Oregon Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University. A Grant High School graduate from Portland, Oregon, Dr. Croff went on to receive her PhD from Yale University in anthropology, with a focus on the archaeology of the African Diaspora. Her long and winding search for meaning through career has led her to the work she does now: engaging older Black adults in physical and social activity in ways that celebrate culture, history, and community memory alongside building better brain health and providing opportunity to rising scholars. 

Mona M.Hosseini is a Ph.D. candidate in molecular and cellular biology, working in Dr. Agarwal lab at the Knight Cancer Institute of OHSU. A PSU alumni, she received her bachelor in science in 2018 while recipient of BUILD EXITO scholarship. Mona is interested in biological mechanisms that give rise to leukemia and her dissertation research is focused on pre-leukemia syndromes.