My research focuses on three broad areas:  The impact of cancer and its treatment on cognitive performance, description of cognition among older adults and application of advanced statistical methods to behavioral data.  

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Cancer and Cognition

Cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) refers to worse self-reports and poorer objective cognitive performance among persons who are diagnosed and treated for cancer.  Our research explores the nature of CRCI in multiple populations, including older adults, persons who are adolescents and young adults at the time of their cancer diagnosis, as well as individuals treated with immunotherapy.  Our research measures cognitive performance using self-report questionnaires, in-person and online neuropsychological assessment tools, as well as smartphones.

Selected Articles

• Does cognitive performance among breast cancer survivors vary within and across days and how does that relate to fatigue and depressed mood?

• Do breast cancer survivors experience more memory lapses than women with no history of cancer and how does that impact their positive and negative affect?

• Does treatment with taxane-based chemotherapies accelerate longitudinal declines in cognitive performance and quality of life among older breast cancer survivors?

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Cognition and Aging

Much of our research on cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease has been directed towards understanding changes in the cognitive performance of cognitively healthy older adults, as well as persons who will go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This work has centered on describing longitudinal changes in performance, as well as identifying factors that may accelerate longitudinal declines such as Mild Behavioral Impairment, as well as those that attenuate age-related impairments, including physical activity and cognitively stimulating lifestyle activities.

Selected Articles

• Do older adult with neuropsychiatric symptoms sufficient to be classified with Mild Behavioral Impairment exhibit impaired cognitive performance?

• How does job strain impact late-life cognitive performance among older adults living in Puerto Rico?

• How does inflammation or nutrition modify the relationship between age and cognitive performance?

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Multivariate Statistical Methods

Much of our work necessitates the application of sophisticated multivariate and multivariable methods to longitudinal panel and time intensive (e.g., Ecological Momentary Assessment) data. This work has included multilevel modeling approaches to clinical trial data, as well as methods that seek to identify sub-groups of persons with cross-sectional data using Latent Class Analysis, as well as sub-groups who differ in their longitudinal trajectories using Growth Mixture Modeling.

Selected Articles

• Using meta-analytic techniques to evaluate the impact of immune checkpoint inhibitors on the quality of life among person with cancer.

• Using Latent Class Analysis to characterize sub-groups as a function of psychoneurological symptoms in relation to cognitive performance among older breast cancer survivors.

• Using multilevel models to characterize between- and within-person associations between sleep disturbance and cognitive peformance among older breast cancer survivors.