Raina Croff, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Neurology at OHSU'S Oregon Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Her work focuses on creating culturally celebratory approaches to physical activity, social engagement, and reminiscence therapy for healthier aging, particularly amidst the trauma of gentrification and its implications for older Black adults' cognitive health and social connectedness. She received her PhD in Anthropology from Yale University in 2009 and applies her training as an anthropologist of the African Diaspora to designing brain health interventions that celebrate Black culture, history, and community memory. Dr. Croff leads the Sharing History through Active Reminiscence and Photo-imagery (SHARP) Study that blends neighborhood walking and social reminiscence to maintain cognitive health among older healthy and mildly cognitively impaired older African Americans. SHARP has been supported by the Alzheimer’s Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer's Foundation of America, and the Roybal Center for Translational Research.

Dr. Croff began her career as an archaeological anthropologist of the African Diaspora, leading excavation research on the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Goree Island, Senegal where she examined the intersection of human behavior, inequality, and material culture. Her early work  led her to focus on medical anthroplogy and how culture and society influence and are influenced by health, disease, and health beliefs. In more recent years, Dr. Croff has applied her anthroplogical lens to American Indian/Alaska Native traditional approaches to substance use disorder treatment, and currently, to cognitive health, cultural neuroscience, and neuroanthropology.