Christopher R. Beam

I am a clinical psychologist with a specialization in life-span development, behavioral genetics, and advanced quantitative methods. Research in my lab encompasses different areas of life-span development. Currently, my research focuses on collecting midlife data on twins age 40 and older in the Louisville Twin Study to investigate genetic and environmental processes that explain how early life psychosocial and cognitive development predict midlife cognitive functioning and markers of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Another area of research examines how perceived social isolation, that is loneliness, changes in the second h

alf of the lifespan, if at all, and whether and how these changes correlate with dementia risk.

Clincally, my work focuses on geropsychological interventions, primarily group-based interventions for complicated grief in older adults. I also am a faculty member in the Gerontological Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) in the Department of Family Medicine at the USC Keck School of Medicine.

Alice J. Kim

Alice’s program of research uses developmental behavior genetics to investigate how psychosocial experiences and genotype contribute to individual differences in cognitive aging and risk of ADRD.  Current projects include: Developmental Mechanisms in Cognitive Aging; Heritability of Cognitive Aging Systematic Review; and Etiology Underlying Life Events and Dementia by Gender. 

Alice seeks a varied career involving clinical service, research, mentoring, and teaching. 

Kayla Tureson

Kayla is currently completing a National Research Service Award (NRSA F31) examining the intersection of social determinants of health and genetic contributions to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) risk in Mexican older adults. Her program of research spans chronic illness and cognitive aging in older adults of Latin American origin and other underrepresented populations. Her current projects also include characterizing early clinical markers of cognitive change in adults at risk of autosomal dominant AD, as well as sociocultural influences on neuropsychological assessment and cognitive aging outcomes in underrepresented populations.

Kayla is currently a neuropsychology emphasis student at USC and intends to continue her specialization on internship and complete a neuropsychology-focused postdoc with a long-term goal of board certification. She is interested in a career that offers research, clinical, teaching, and mentoring opportunities aligned with her interests in cognitive aging health equity.

Alyssa Kam

I am interested how individual differences in cognition might be explained by the role of genetics, using twin studies, and the environment, such as socio-cultural factors. I am (She is?) working on a model cognitive development across the lifespan in the LTS using Item-Response Theory.

I am also interested in genetic and environmental etiologies underlying risk for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (ADRD) such as cognitive decline and AD biomarkers. In the future, I intend to continue pursuing ADRD research while mentoring clinical scientists-in-training in my own lab.