Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology; Director of Neuropsychology, USC Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute

Cecily Jenkins, PhD is Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology in USC’s Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute (ATRI). As a licensed clinical neuropsychologist with expertise in cognitive assessment of older adults, her professional trajectory has found focus in neurodegenerative conditions of aging for the past three decades. In the University of California, San Diego Department of Neurosciences Dr. Jenkins established and directed the Memory in Aging Project (MAP) and Memory Screening initiatives within the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. There she led efforts to strengthen academic-public research partnerships in the San Diego community through outreach programs offering public education about memory research, brief cognitive assessment for older adults concerned about memory decline, and through facilitation of support programs for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and their care-partners.

In her current position as Director of Neuropsychology at ATRI Dr. Jenkins plays a key role in the conduct of ATRI and the NIH funded Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC). She manages the ACTC Clinical Outcome Instruments Unit co-led by Drs. Ronald Petersen and Dorene Rentz. This team of internationally recognized experts advises ATRI and ACTC affiliated trialists and their academic and industry partners in selection of cognitive and clinical scales appropriate to the research questions and in operational methods to promote clean data capture. Dr. Jenkins’ Neuropsychology team enforces rigorous training and certification standards for trial site personnel conducting cognitive assessments when these are primary study outcomes. She also directs expert quality review of collected data in select trials of disease-modifying interventions for pre-clinical Alzheimer’s Disease.