Dr. Tanisha Hill-Jarrett is a neuropsychologist driven to reduce disparities in cognitive aging.
Her work seeks to center and contextualize the experience of cognitive aging in Black older adults.
About
The heart of Dr. Hill-Jarrett's work and interest lies at the intersection of race, cognitive aging, and neuropsychology. As the proportion of older (65+ year old) adults grows and the world’s population continues to diversify, understanding how socio-cultural experiences interact with the process of aging becomes increasingly critical.
Dr. Hill-Jarrett’s focus is on understanding how psychosocial factors and culture-specific experiences influence cognitive aging and cognitive outcome of Black older adults. Her goal is to identify how factors unique to the Black aging experience contribute to cognitive health disparities and result in disproportionately higher rates of cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative disease for Black Americans. Through her work, Dr. Hill-Jarrett seeks to contextualize the experience of cognitive aging in Black Americans and to identify potentially modifiable risk factors of cognitive impairment. As a scientist and clinician, she is committed to building community, promoting brain health, and making wellness accessible to Black older adults.
The goal is to make brain health easily digestible
& accessible for all.
Background
Dr. Hill-Jarrett is a T32 Brain Health Equity Fellow, Senior Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, and incoming Assistant Professor at the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California San Francisco. Clinically, her practice focuses on the neuropsychological assessment of adults and specializes in the evaluation of dementia/neurodegenerative disease and neurosurgical candidates (deep brain stimulation, epilepsy).
​
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.
​