The SHARP Study: A Culturally Celebratory Approach to Black American Brain Health

Sponsored by the Ewald W.Busse Lectureship Raina Croff, PhD is Assistant Professor of Neurology at the NIA-Layton Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Center at Oregon Health & Science University, Neurology Diversity Committee Chair, and an American Academy of Neurology Diversity Leadership Program scholar. Her work focuses on the implications of gentrification on Black older adults' cognitive health and on increasing physical and social activity in ways that celebrate culture, history, and community memory. She received a PhD in Anthropology from Yale University in 2009. Dr. Croff brings her cultural training to qualitative health research, having collaborated on projects examining American Indian and Alaska Native traditional and evidence-based substance abuse treatment, older African American mindfulness, and African Americans' understanding of Alzheimer's Disease and barriers to healthier aging. Dr. Croff is Principal Investigator of the Sharing History through Active Reminiscence and Photo-imagery (SHARP) study, funded by the CDC Healthy Aging Program, the Alzheimer's Association, and the NIA. SHARP uses GPS-technology to engage older Black adults in walking conversational reminiscence, and provides oral history community deliverables and research opportunities for emerging Black scholars. More at www.sharpwalkingstudy.org. Finally, Dr. Croff is an avid forest enthusiast, mother, writer, and former archaeologist of the African Diaspora. Link to join: https://duke.zoom.us/j/97565316379