Our Team | ORCATECH

Executive Leadership

Jeffrey Kaye, MD

Jeffrey Kaye, M.D., is the Layton Endowed Professor of Neurology and Biomedical Engineering at Oregon Health & Science University. He is the director of ORCATECH and director of the NIA - Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Dr. Kaye’s research has focused over the past two decades on understanding healthy aging using a variety of approaches ranging across the fields of genetics, neuroimaging, physiology and continuous activity monitoring. Dr. Kaye has received the Charles Dolan Hatfield Research Award for his work. He is listed in Best Doctors in America. He serves on many national and international panels and review boards in the fields of geriatrics, neurology and technology including as a commissioner for the Center for Aging Services and Technology (CAST), Chair of the International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment (ISTAART), a member of the Advisory Board of AgeTech West, and on the Leadership Council of the Network on Environment, Services and Technologies for the American Society on Aging. He is an author of over 300 scientific publications and holds several major grant awards from federal agencies, national foundations and industrial sponsors.

Nicole Sharma, BA

Nicole Sharma, BA, is the OHSU Aging & Alzheimer’s Executive Director and the ORCATECH Manager. She has worked with ORCATECH for over 14 years and has an interest in the scalability of deployment of the ORCATECH Platform across new Life Lab cohorts around the world. Ms. Sharma graduated from Pomona College with a degree in Cognitive Science where she also conducted memory research and learned about research data analysis while interning at the UCSD Alzheimer's Disease Data Core.

Zach Beattie, Ph.D

Zach Beattie, Ph.D., is lead data scientist and data manager at ORCATECH. As a biomedical engineer, his passion lies at the intersection of technology and health. He has spent several years in academia and the health and biotech industry where he has worked to help people live happier and healthier lives through technology. Specifically, he developed a new technology with the ability to detect sleep apnea using non-contact sensors, and then innovated new features for Fitbit wearables that help individuals live healthier, more informed lives. Currently Dr. Beattie is focused on ensuring data integrity during a significant overhaul to the ORCATECH platform and is specifically tasked with overseeing data transfer, algorithm development, and algorithm validation during this process.

Photographic portrait of Heather Schiffke looking at camera wearing a blue sweater

Heather Schiffke, MATCM

Heather Schiffke, MATCM is the administrator for the Oregon Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (OADRC). She coordinates the operations and resources of the OADRC, working with researchers, staff and collaborators to implement and support research. Heather has over 20 years of experience in research and academic administration, including clinical trial coordination, pre and post-award grant administration. She received her Master’s degree in Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine from Yo San University in Marina Del Rey, California.

Investigators

Lyndsey Miller, PhD, RN

Lyndsey Miller, PhD, RN, is an ORCATECH investigator and an Assistant Professor in the OHSU School of Nursing, with a research focus on improving dementia care and care planning. She is an investigator on three studies, each using behavioral biomarkers derived from ORCATECH’s in-home technology platform. These studies seek to: understand stress and health of family caregivers of persons with dementia [K01AG059839]; develop early detection of agitation among persons with dementia in memory care facilities [the MODERATE study]; and refine a care planning intervention [the SHARE-sense study]. Dr. Miller’s other research interests include topics related to family care dyads in the context of chronic illness, including behavioral interdependence in couples and joint decision-making involvement.

Zach Beattie, Ph.D.

Jeffrey Kaye, MD

Jeffrey Kaye, M.D., is the Layton Endowed Professor of Neurology and Biomedical Engineering at OHSU. He is the director of ORCATECH and director of the NIA Layton Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Center. Dr. Kaye’s research has focused on understanding healthy aging using a variety of approaches ranging across the fields of genetics, neuroimaging, and continuous activity monitoring. Dr. Kaye has received the Charles Dolan Hatfield Research Award for his work and is listed in "Best Doctors in America". He serves on many national and international panels and review boards in the fields of geriatrics, neurology and technology including as a commissioner for the Center for Aging Services and Technology (CAST), Chair of the International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment (ISTAART), and on the Leadership Council of the Network on Environment, Services and Technologies for the American Society on Aging. He has authored over 300 publications and holds several major grant awards.

Lisa C. Silbert, MD, MCR, FAAN

Lisa C. Silbert, MD, MCR, FAAN, is an ORCATECH investigator and an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at OHSU School of Medicine. Additionally, she’s the director of the Neuroimaging Core at the Oregon Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Center as well as the Dementia Clinic at the VA Portland Health Care System. With ORCATECH, she leads the VA site of the CART research study. While she oversees an entire team of researchers at the center, her specific research focus is on the white matter lesions in the brain that cause dementia. Her numerous publications on Alzheimer’s and dementia research have been cited more than 2,000 times.

Raina Croff, PhD

Raina Croff, PhD, is an ORCATECH investigator who leads the SHARP (Sharing History through Active Reminiscence and Photo-Imagery) study. Additionally, Dr. Croff is Assistant Professor of Neurology at OHSU since 2015. Born and raised in Portland, OR, she received her PhD in anthropology from Yale University in 2009, with a focus on the African Diaspora. Dr. Croff’s work focuses on how culture impacts health and acts as a lens through which people interpret health literature, messaging, programming, and research participation. Her research seeks to increase physical activity and social engagement among older African Americans in ways that celebrate culture, history, and community memory.

Portrait of brunette woman smiling, with a stethoscope draped on her shoulders

Kirsten Wright, ND, MS

Kirsten Wright, ND, MS is a Naturopath and an Associate Professor with the Department of Neurology at OHSU. She is a clinician-scientist with a history of working in biomedical and cognition research as well as in the health care industry. She obtained a Master's in Clinical Research from OHSU and a Master's in Integrative Medicine Research from the National University of Natural Medicine.

Walt Dawson, PhD

Walt Dawson, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at OHSU. Dr. Dawson studies the public policy implications of dementia, including its financial impact on families. His research interests include global health policy and financing long-term support. Dr. Dawson is also a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health with the Global Brain Health Institute at the University of California, San Francisco and faculty at PSU’s Institute on Aging.

Allison Lindauer, ND, PhD

Allison Lindauer, ND, PhD is an investigator for the STELLA and Tele-STELLA studies. Dr. Lindauer is a nationally-certified gerontological nurse practitioner and scientist. As an assistant professor at OHSU's Layton Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, she cares for persons with dementia and their caregivers. With over 20 years’ experience in aging care, Dr. Lindauer conducts research on dementia caregiving and telehealth. As the leader of Outreach, Recruitment and Enrollment at the Layton Center, Dr. Lindauer oversees community-based activities and study recruitment.

WanTai (Michael) AuYeung, Ph.D.

WanTai (Michael) AuYeung, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Scholar focusing on algorithm development and analytics of the large and diverse data set at ORCATECH. He obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington with a focus on predicting sudden cardiac arrest among subjects with heart failure. After his Ph.D., he worked as a Research Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital with a focus on reducing false monitor alarms in intensive care unit. Currently at ORCATECH, Dr. AuYeung is involved in a number of projects which include development and validation of algorithms for estimating subjects’ behaviors such as sleep or step, and the MODERATE study.

Miranda Lim, MD, PhD
Miranda Lim is the PI for the TWLITE pilot study at ORCATECH (Tunable white light therapy in elders to improve sleep.) Dr. Lim is an Associate Professor of Neurology at OHSU, and directs the Sleep & Health Applied Research Program, which is an academic community of researchers and clinicians based at OHSU and Portland VA, with a mission to research how sleep affects the brain across the lifespan in health and disease and to identify and test new therapies.

Data team

Zach Beattie, Ph.D. - Data Director

Chao-Yi Wu Ph.D., OT

Chao-Yi Wu Ph.D., OT, is a Postdoctoral Researcher with ORCATECH, focusing on developing interventions for delaying aging-related disability. She received her Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Sciences from University of Pittsburgh and has three years of clinical experience as an occupational therapist. Her research interest is to bridge healthcare and innovative digital biomarkers. Her current project is trying to identify the optimal design and timing of clinical trials to help prevent health decline later in life.

WanTai (Michael) AuYeung, Ph.D.

Nora Mattek, MPH

Nora Mattek, MPH, is a Research Statistician at ORCATECH. Her primary focus is analyzing the in-home sensor activity data and clinical data collected from our NIH-funded longitudinal aging and technology studies. She assists with preparing datasets, performing statistical analyses and generating manuscripts. She also works with collaborators to initiate new projects and to ensure their success.

Sarah Gothard

Sarah Gothard is the Data Integration Specialist at ORCATECH. She manages the life-cycle of the clinical data that is received for most ORCATECH projects and collaborations. Her key responsibilities include creating data capturing tools, creating and implementing data integrity strategies, along with data processing and data set creation. In additional to this role, she also functions as the RITE study coordinator and provides support to the ORCATECH data manager.

Development Team

Thomas Riley - Development Lead

Thomas Riley is ORCATECH's Technical Lead, managing both frontend and backend development, testing of new sensors and implementing quality assurance protocols for collected data. He uses experience implementing these sensors and subject interactions to continue improving ORCATECH’s sensor suite. Mr. Riley is a graduate of the University of Portland with a degree in physics.

Kevin Cosgrove P.E., MSEE

Kevin Cosgrove P.E., MSEE, is a Senior Research Assistant with ORCATECH, serving as technical support, and attending to quality assurance for the ORCATECH platform. He validates new devices and software, including managing a cohort of trailblazing volunteers. Kevin brings a depth of technical industry experience in circuit design, program management and innovation to the ORCATECH team. Having cared for aging parents, he is motivated to increase our understanding and improvement of the aging process.

Jonathan Lee

Jonathan Lee is a Research Associate with ORCATECH that designs and develops ORCATECH user interfaces with a craftsman’s touch. Before bringing his talents to ORCATECH, Jonathan spent more than 10 years as a web developer.

Study Leadership

Dara Wasserman B.S., CCRP

Dara Wasserman B.S., CCRP is a Research Associate with the Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center and ORCATECH. She has over 25 years of experience working in research with older adults and administers neuropsychological testing for ORCATECH study participants. She holds Bachelor's Degrees in Psychology and Secondary Education, and a Graduate Certificate in Gerontology.

Jennifer Marcoe, MA

Jennifer Marcoe, MA, is a research associate with ORCATECH and the Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. She is a project coordinator on multiple projects providing oversight, management, as well as completing home visits and neuropsychological testing for study participants. She is interested in subject recruitment, engagement, and retention and enjoys working with people. She has a background in health coaching and wellness and is a MINT trainer in Motivational Interviewing (MI). Jennifer values learning and growing from subjects and being a part of programs that will help older adults live independently and maintain their quality of life.

Rachel Wall, MS, CCRP

Rachel Wall, MS, CCRP, is the VA site Research Coordinator for a nationwide project looking at how technology can be used to study the aging process. This VA and NIH funded project is called CART, or Collaborative Aging Research using Technology. Rachel also works with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data for various projects within the Neuroimaging Core for the Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center

Portrait of Amanda Mar in striped dress standing in front of trees

Amanda Mar, BS

Amanda Mar, BS, is a research coordinator with ORCATECH and the Layton Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Center. She is a research coordinator on multiple projects that involve recruitment, on-site visits, neuropsychological tests and data integrity. Amanda is a graduate from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry/Cell Biology and Public Health.

Cierra M. Leon Guerrero, BS

Cierra M. Leon Guerrero, BS is a research assistant with the Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center and ORCATECH. She administers in-home neuropsychological testing for ORCATECH study participants. She is interested in how using technology with older adults can develop a thorough understanding of how our brains age and inform early detection of cognitive decline. Ms. Leon Guerrero graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology.

Jonathan Wyatt

Jonathan is a Senior Clinical Research Assistant and is primarily involved in the DETECT-AD Study. His roles include offering preparing and consolidating visit supplies, data consolidation, managing components of in-person visits, and offering general support as needed.

Field Technicians

Nathaniel Rodrigues - Field Tech Lead

Nathaniel Rodrigues is the Lead Field Technician at ORCATECH, collaborating with a great team to install and maintain the technology platform. He also assists in testing new equipment, creating new technology guides and developing training materials for satellite sites based in other cities across North America. Nathaniel is a graduate of Portland State University with a degree in Organismal Biology.

Steph Irish

Steph Irish is a Technical Research Assistant with ORCATECH. She installs and maintains the in-home ORCATECH platform equipment. Ms. Irish attended Fairhaven College in Bellingham, WA. She has 15 years of experience in behavioral & health research, including having worked with the UW’s Social Development Research Group and the Oregon Research Institute.

Benny Kuang, AM

Benny Kuang, AM, is a Technical Research Assistant with ORCATECH. Benny is responsible with installing and maintaining ORCATECH’s in-home platform equipment in collaboration with the ORCATECH team. Prior to joining ORCATECH, Benny earned his Master’s in Social Work at the University of Chicago where he discovered his interest in working with older adults and advancing research on aging and dementia care.

Mya Navarro

Mya Navarro is a technical research assistant, and is responsible for installing and overseeing all of the technology in a home and all necessary repairs afterwards. She works along the tech team to collectively maintain the health of the technology in homes as well as solving difficult issues and brainstorming ideas to make work quick and efficient. Mya graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor's degree in Bio-Health Sciences and a minor in psychology.

Shahden Barghouti, BS

Shahden Barghouti, B.S., is a Research Engineer with ORCATECH. Currently, Shahden’s responsibilities include working with the technical team to install and troubleshoot technology, with a focus in understanding the user interface and the way it interacts with the development team. Prior to joining ORCATECH, Shahden earned her Bachelor’s in Science in Mathematics from the University of Oregon with a minor in Media Studies where she worked as the Student Leader of the Mathematics Library. During this time, she cultivated her skills in data analysis, software development, and professionally communicating complex topics to new audiences.

Research Clinician

Sylvia White, ND

Sylvia White, ND, is a research clinician with the Layton Center and ORCATECH. She assesses research participants in both clinical and home settings and provides clinical support and education to research subjects and their families. Dr. White received her Bachelor's degree from Montana State University before attending the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, where she earned her degree in naturopathic medicine. She has been a part of ORCATECH since 2007 when she started to work directly with the aging population. She initially recruited participants and administered assessments for the Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP); she later expanded her role as research clinician to bring support to more studies and clinical trials.

Psychometric Assessor

Elise Hanna, B.S.

Elise Hanna, B.S., is a clinical research assistant with ORCATECH and the Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. She administers in-clinic neuropsychological testing to study participants. She is excited to continue working directly with study participants, and to continue learning about how the use of technology can facilitate more accurate behavioral data capture throughout the aging process. Elise graduated from Westmont College with a degree in Behavioral Neuroscience.

Collaborators

Neil Thomas, MD

Dr. Neil Thomas is a cognitive neurologist at the Bruyère Memory Program and an investigator at the Bruyère Research Institute (a partnership between Bruyère, a Canadian research hospital, and the University of Ottawa). Prior to returning to Ottawa, Neil was a Research Fellow at the Layton Center and supported various ORCATECH research studies. At the BRI, he specializes in home-based assessments of individuals with cognitive impairment. He collaborates with ORCATECH by managing the Bruyère Life Lab, an extension of the ORCATECH Life Lab. It includes several homes outfitted with the ORCATECH technology platform.

Antoine Piau, MD, PhD

Antoine Piau, MD, PhD, is a Medical Doctor within the Department of Geriatric Medicine at Toulouse University Hospital in France. He's also a Medical Journalist, working with France Televisions, and is also an expert consultant for the European Commission and the French National Health Authority. Between 2018 and 2019, Antoine was a visiting researcher at the Layton Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Center and ORCATECH; he collaborated on a variety of projects and publications, including studying how in-home technologies, like sensors, can help predict falls that take place at home. He's continued collaborating with ORCATECH since returning back to France. His research interests include digital biomarkers, artificial intelligence, and developing and evaluating technologies that support healthy aging.

Notable members

Tamara Hayes, PhD

Tamara Hayes, PhD, was one of the founding members of ORCATECH. After several years at OHSU, Informix and IBM, she became an Associate Professor in the newly formed Biomedical Engineering Department at OHSU in 2002. Her research focused on developing "aging in place" technologies, to enable the elderly to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible. Dr. Hayes obtained a Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh. She passed away in 2013 but remains in our team's spirits. A memorial scholarship fund was set up in her honor to support graduate students with a passion for biomedical engineering.

Former team members

Johanna Austin, PhD
Johanna Austin, PhD was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Neurology. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 2015 for her work developing models and algorithms to assess in-home activities associated with loneliness and related behaviors. Her research interests included unobtrusive, longitudinal measurement of in-home behavior with applications to healthcare. During her time at ORCATECH, she was especially interested in developing techniques to assess the loneliness and depression levels of informal dementia caregivers, which will require the development and testing of devices and algorithms to distinguish the activities of multiple individuals living in the same home.

Hannah Bernard, M.A
Hannah Bernard, M.A, was a senior research assistant with ORCATECH and the Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. She conducted in-home visits with research participants administering neuropsychological testing. Working with a veteran cohort, she is interested in how technology can be used to identify changes in daily activities for veterans living in rural areas to promote independent living. She received her Master’s in Applied Behavior Analysis from Florida Institute of Technology.

Nicole Bouranis, MA
Nicole Bouranis, MA was the coordinator for several ORCATECH and NIA-Layton Center studies. She also managed the ACTNOW registry, the ORCATECH and NIA-Layton Center’s site for community members who are interested in ongoing research and participation opportunities. She was a Health Systems and Policy PhD Candidate at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, where she focused on factors affecting recruitment in dementia studies. In addition to study recruitment, her research interests include working with community members to design studies and materials that best fit their interests and needs.

Ariella Brenner
Ariella Brenner was a Technical Research Assistant for ORCATECH and helped maintain the in-home ORCATECH platform installations. Ms. Brenner has an undergraduate degree in biology from Northwestern University and has an MS in Bioinformatics from OHSU.

Charles Consel
Charles Consel is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Bordeaux in France and is the Head Manager of PHOENIX Research Group at INRIA (the National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation in France). He collaborated with ORCATECH on a variety of projects and publications.

Madison DeCapo, BS
Madison DeCapo, BS was a Clinical Research Associate with ORCATECH and the Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. She served as the central trainer for all research staff conducting cognitive and psychiatric assessments (both at OHSU and collaborating sites). Madison pioneered a standardized training system to ensure thorough and consistent initial training is provided throughout the center.

Hiroko Dodge, Ph.D.
Hiroko Dodge, PhD was a Professor of Neurology and led the Biostatistics and Data Management Core at the Layton Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at OHSU. Over more than ten years, Dr. Dodge was the Principal Investigator for a series of NIA-funded research projects that study if social interactions through video-chats can improve cognitive function. Besides these intervention trials, she analyzed digital biomarker data generated by ORCATECH, focusing on its use in enriching clinical trials. She served as the founding chair of the Professional Interest Area (PIA) entitled “Clinical Trials Advancements and Outcomes” in the International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research (ISTAART) and was a member of the ISTAART advisory council. She is a Fellow at the Gerontological Society of America (GSA).

Colette Duncan
Colette Duncan was a Research Assistant with ORCATECH who administered neuropsychological testing for ORCATECH research study participants. Ms. Duncan holds a B.S. degree in business administration.

Ames Elliot, MPH
Ames Elliot, MPH, was a Technical Research Assistant with ORCATECH. She installed in-home monitoring technology in the homes of veterans living in rural parts of Oregon and SW Washington. These veterans are enrolled in the CART research study’s VA site. She has 18 years of experience working to improve the health of vulnerable populations. Ames earned a master’s degree in Public Health from Portland State University.

Edline Francois, BA
Edline Francois, BA was the study coordinator for the SHARP study. Edline graduated with a bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences in 2017. Her education and life experience have fostered a passion for public health. This passion has led her to work in health promotion, maternal-child health, and health disparities research, specifically Alzheimer's disease. Her research interests include healthy aging of older Black women.

Nicole Fleming, B.S.
Nicole Fleming, B.S., was a research associate with the Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center and ORCATECH. She oversaw the clinical assessment team within the center and also trained assessment teams at remote sites. She designed training requirements to ensure high quality data. Through training and education, only quality clinical data is gathered by the team. She is passionate about honest research and mentorship.

Elena Goodrich, BA, MDiv
Elena Goodrich, BA, MDiv, was a Senior Research Associate at OHSU and the first Study Coordinator for the Internet-based Conversational Engagement Clinical Trial (I-CONECT), one of several ORCATECH research studies. As the study coordinator, she helped launch the study by establishing recruitment procedures, developing protocols and interventions, training research assistants and coordinating how study-specific technology would be used. She has a BA degree in Psychology from Portland State University and left the ORCATECH team to pursue a research role at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ona Golonka, MA
Ona Golonka, MA was a Research Communications Coordinator at ORCATECH and the Oregon Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at OHSU. She managed the Centers' websites, promoted various research studies and clinical trials, published newsletters and coordinated communications needs between several departments. Prior to joining the ORCATECH team, she worked at a marketing agency and obtained a master's degree from the University of Vienna.

Sam Harbison, MS
Sam Harbison, MS, was a Senior Data Analyst with ORCATECH. He has a Master’s Degree in Statistics from Indiana University. His main focus was algorithm development, data structuring, platform development, and building new data streams for researchers. He also worked with our technology and development team helping build new technologies for researchers. He worked with the data team to create, clean, and process sensor data from participant homes.

Adriana Hughes, PhD
Adriana Hughes, PhD, was a neuropsychologist and clinical investigator at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. She hend joint appointments as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Oregon Health & Science University. She was also a Co-Investigator with ORCATECH; and led two research studies, PRIA and Aging-WELL.

Judith Kornfeld, M.B.A.
Judith Kornfeld, M.B.A. was the Chief Business and Operations Officer of ORCATECH. Through building worldwide strategic collaborations and alliances while positioning Intellectual Property assets and leveraging products in development, Ms. Kornfeld specialized in bringing innovative medical technologies to prosper in the medical industry. Prior to joining ORCATECH she assumed executive business development positions of emerging medical technological companies in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Ms. Kornfeld also held the position of VP of Business Development of TransPharma Medical, a company focused on developing pharmaceutical products using transdermal drug-delivery technology. Ms. Kornfeld holds a bachelor's degree in life sciences and an M.B.A..

Emily Lehman, BS
Emily Lehman was a Technical Research Assistant at ORCATECH. Her roles included maintaining and installing the technology platform in collaboration with her team members. Emily graduated from Oregon State University, where she gained previous experience in healthcare research and focused on studies in Public Health and Biomedical Ethics.

Jacob Lindsley, MA
Jacob Lindsley, MA was a Senior Research Assistant and lead coordinator for the I-CONECT study at the Layton Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Center and ORCATECH. Jacob has 10+ years of non-profit leadership experience, degrees in psychology and Buddhist studies, and a fascination for complex research questions. He assisted Dr. Hiroko Dodge in her work to uncover the impact of social isolation on the development of dementia.

Emily Lore
Emily Lore was a Technical Research Assistant with ORCATECH and helped maintain the in-home ORCATECH platform installations. Ms. Lore has an undergraduate degree in Public Health and pre-law from the University of Washington. She is interested in how new technologies and data analysis can optimize how the medical community can best serve aging populations. She left the team to pursue a post-bac in Chemical Engineering at Oregon State University.

Olivia Lotito
Olivia Lotito was a Research Assistant with ORCATECH. She installed and maintained the in-home ORCATECH platform equipment. Olivia graduated from Marylhurst University in 2017 with a degree in Business Leadership.

Mattie MacDonald, MS, CCRP
Mattie MacDonald, MS, CCRP was a project manager for the I-CONECT trial with ORCATECH and the Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. She has a master’s degree in Clinical Research Organization & Management. Her research experience is primarily in neurodegenerative disease, as well as immunology and rare musculoskeletal disease. She has a background in psychology and technology education, and is interested in digital biomarkers and computerized cognitive assessments as improved clinical trial outcome measures.

Charlie Quinn, BS
Charlie Quinn, BS was a software developer with ORCATECH. He designed and contributed to ORCATECH's data collection platform that allows Tech RAs to install, configure, and monitor a variety of in-home sensors that make up the ORCATECH network. His focus is on backend development, ensuring the platform maintains a stable infrastructure. He was responsible for integrating new sensors into the platform and debugging any unanticipated behavior displayed by the currently supported inventory.

Christina Reynolds, PhD
Christina Reynolds, PhD., was a Data Scientist with ORCATECH with a focus on developing algorithms for the analysis of ORCATECH's large and diverse data set. She received her Ph.D. in astrophysics from University College London and a Master's degree in software engineering from Harvard University. Much of her research career has involved developing software algorithms used to fabricate and test the optics for the European Extremely Large Telescope and the IRIS space telescope. At ORCATECH, she focused on designing a wide variety of algorithms for deriving information about life and health patterns from ORCATECH’s sensor data, including characterizing activity and sleep behaviors.

Yanan Shang, MD
Yanan Shang, MD contributed significantly to our research efforts, particularly through her work on the DETECT studies. Her expertise and dedication were invaluable during her time with our team.

Mary Siqueland, BS
Mary Alice Siqueland, BS was a research assistant with ORCATECH. She primarily worked as an assessor for the CART study, where she visited participants and administered neuropsychological testing. She is interested in aging in place, and the potential uses that technology has in this process. She graduated from Pacific University with a Bachelor of Science in biology.

Katherine Wild, PhD
Katherine Wild, Ph.D., was an ORCATECH investigator with a research focus on elder care and healthcare utilization transitions. Dr. Wild was an associate professor in the OHSU Department of Neurology with special interests is in cognitive impairment and dementia. She received her doctorate from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology - Yeshiva University, New York. She was collaborating with other members of ORCATECH in research on the use of in-home technology to prolong safe and independent living. Other research interests include computer-based assessment to detect early changes in cognition, and impaired insight as it relates to decision making in persons with mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

Phelps Witter
Phelps Witter was a Programmer with ORCATECH. Mr. Witter was involved in the development of several ORCATECH projects and also supported the technical research assistants, as needed, with ORCATECH technology platform issues.

Tracy Zitzelberger, M.P.H.
Tracy Zitzelberger, M.P.H., was a Senior Research Associate and served as the Administrative Director for the Layton Center and ORCATECH. She worked closely with faculty and collaborators to develop research proposals that leveraged the tremendous resources and infrastructure made available by these research centers. Given over 20 years of experience at OHSU in various research roles, Ms. Zitzelberger supported faculty and staff as they implemented, conducted, and concluded community-based research and clinical trials. She received her Master of Public Health in Health Administration and Policy from Portland State University in 2003.