TANISHA HILL-JARRETT, PHD
Dr. Tanisha Hill-Jarrett is a neuropsychologist driven to reduce disparities in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Her work seeks to center and contextualize the experience of cognitive aging in Black older adults. She uses culturally responsive creative aging practices and Afrofuturism in her work with community-dwelling elders. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
A native of New Brighton, Pennsylvania, Dr. Hill-Jarrett obtained a bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh. She earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of Florida with specialization in neuropsychology. She completed an American Psychological Association (APA) accredited internship in adult and geriatric neuropsychology at Emory University Rehabilitation/Grady Memorial Hospital. Her neuropsychology postdoctoral fellowship was combined (clinical + research) and completed at the University of Michigan and Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Center. ​Outside of work, you can catch Dr. Hill-Jarrett thrifting for all things vintage or cultivating her green thumb.
Positions and Education
Current
Assistant Professor, University of California San Francisco
Memory and Aging Center
Department of Neurology
Assistant Professor, Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco & Trinity College Dublin
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Previous
T32 Fellow for Brain Health Equity, University of California San Francisco (2022-2023)
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Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco & Trinity College Dublin (2021-2022)
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Clinical Assistant Professor, University of South Florida (2019-2021)
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Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan (2017-2019)
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Neuropsychology Intern, Emory University/Grady Memorial Hospital (2016-2017)
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PhD, Clinical Psychology, University of Florida (2011-2017)
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BS Psychology, University of Pittsburgh (2006-2010)
Contextualizing Black women's lived experiences as they age.
Dr. Hill-Jarrett's research applies intersectionality theory to understand how psychosocial stressors and structural oppression impact Black women’s cognitive aging and confer risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Through application of mixed-methods, she seeks to improve the measurement and tracking of adverse social exposures that Black women experience (e.g., structural racism and sexism). With improved measurement we can better understand how these negative exposures influence cognitive aging and implement policy level interventions to improve health outcomes.
Re-imaginging Black brain health futures rooted in equity.
As a way of leaning into Black joy and honoring Black personhood and agency, Dr. Hill-Jarrett uses Afrofuturism in her community-based work with Black women. She sees Afrofuturism as a framework to create counternarratives and reimagine the future through a lens of hope. She incorporates Afrofuturism as a not only a tool for brain health, but as an intuitive way of knowing and existing among community-dwelling Black elders. In her work, Afrofuturism is a praxis that drives social change and centers the dreams and possible futures of aging Black women.