Natasha Rajah
CIHR Sex and Gender Science Chair Professor Faculty of Arts Department of Psychology Toronto, Ontario natasha.rajah@torontomu.ca
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Bio/Research
Natasha Rajah is an internationally recognized cognitive neuroscientist who uses interdisciplinary methods to study brain and cognitive health across the adult lifespan. In her Brain Health Equity in Aging and Memory (BHEAM) Lab at TMU, she conducts cognitive and clinical neuroscience research on...
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Bio/Research
Natasha Rajah is an internationally recognized cognitive neuroscientist who uses interdisciplinary methods to study brain and cognitive health across the adult lifespan. In her Brain Health Equity in Aging and Memory (BHEAM) Lab at TMU, she conducts cognitive and clinical neuroscience research on memory, aging and dementia prevention. She uses structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in combination with behavioural, neuropsychological, blood-based endocrine and protein analysis, and genetic methods to advance knowledge about 1) The cognitive neuroscience of episodic memory, 2) How biological sex and sociocultural gender affect cognitive brain aging and AD risk – with a focus on midlife and the effect of menopause, and 3) How social determinants of health and lifestyle factors affect cognitive brain aging in diverse samples.
The goal of her research program is to identify the biological, environmental and social factors that support the maintenance of normative memory across the adult lifespan and, to determine what factors negatively affect cognitive and brain aging and place individuals at greater risk of developing AD.
Before joining the Psychology Department at TMU, Natasha was a professor at the Department of Psychiatry and an associate member of the Department of Psychology at McGill University (2005-2023). Natasha also held senior administrative roles at McGill University, including as Director of the Douglas Brain Imaging Centre (2011-2021) and Assistant Dean (Academic Affairs), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) (2022-2023). She received her PhD in Experimental Psychology at University of Toronto (St. George Campus) and did her postdoctoral training at The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California (Berkeley). Natasha has received numerous recognitions during her career, such as CIHR New Investigator Award (2007), FRQS Junior 2 Salary Award (2013) and CIHR Sex & Gender Research Chair (2020), and she currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, Associate Editor of Psychological Science and Senior Editor at Brain Research.
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The goal of her research program is to identify the biological, environmental and social factors that support the maintenance of normative memory across the adult lifespan and, to determine what factors negatively affect cognitive and brain aging and place individuals at greater risk of developing AD.
Before joining the Psychology Department at TMU, Natasha was a professor at the Department of Psychiatry and an associate member of the Department of Psychology at McGill University (2005-2023). Natasha also held senior administrative roles at McGill University, including as Director of the Douglas Brain Imaging Centre (2011-2021) and Assistant Dean (Academic Affairs), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) (2022-2023). She received her PhD in Experimental Psychology at University of Toronto (St. George Campus) and did her postdoctoral training at The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California (Berkeley). Natasha has received numerous recognitions during her career, such as CIHR New Investigator Award (2007), FRQS Junior 2 Salary Award (2013) and CIHR Sex & Gender Research Chair (2020), and she currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, Associate Editor of Psychological Science and Senior Editor at Brain Research.
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