Over 35 personnel support the Brain and Body Donation Program (BBDP), including neurologists, pathologists, neuropsychologists, nurse practitioners, nurses, psychometrists, neuroscientists, technicians, coordinators and administrative assistants.
Thomas Beach, MD, PhD
Director, Brain and Body Donation Program
Dr. Beach is trained in anatomic pathology and neuropathology and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in Neuropathology. He has received multiple grants and awards from organizations including the National Institutes of Health, Alzheimer’s Association, the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. He is the Co-Director of the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders and Neuropathology Core Leader for Arizona’s National Institute on Aging Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center and for the Arizona Parkinson’s Disease Consortium.
Geidy Serrano, PhD
Director, Brain and Body Donation Program Neuropathology Laboratory
Dr. Geidy Serrano completed her doctoral degree in Anatomy at the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Science Campus and a postdoctoral appointment at Emory University’s School of Medicine. She has received multiple grants and awards from organizations including the National Institutes of Health, Society for Neuroscience, the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and Cure PSP. She joined the Brain and Body Donation program at Banner Sun Health Research Institute (BSHRI) in Arizona in 2010, where has supervised all laboratory operations in the BBDP. She is Co-Director of the Neuropathology Core of the National Institute on Aging Arizona Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center (ADCC) and helped lead the Central Pathology Laboratory for Avid Radiopharmaceuticals’ Phase III AV-45 amyloid (florbetapir) and AV-1451 (flortaucipir) FDA-licensing tau imaging studies, as well as Navidea Biopharmaceuticals’ Phase III PET trial of NAV4694.
Ileana Lorenzini, PhD
Tissue Request and Transfer Support, Neuropathology Research Scientist
Dr. Lorenzini earned a master’s degree in biotechnology and a PhD in Neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore, Maryland. During her doctoral studies, she focused on changes in glial cell biology during chronic neurodegenerative diseases. As a post-doctoral research fellow, she worked at the neurology department in the neuromuscular division at JHU before joining Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) in Phoenix. There, she continued her studies using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) as a research model to study disease mechanisms of neurodegeneration. In 2022, she joined the Brain and Body Donation program as a Neuropathology Research Scientist to focus on neuropathology of aging, dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. She supports scientists with tissue request inquiries, providing them with collected clinicopathological data and working with them through each step of the material transfer agreement process.
Angela Kuramoto
Participant Enrollment Support
Angela Kuramoto holds a bachelor’s degree in health care management and a master’s degree in health care administration. She is a certified clinical research coordinator with 26 years of experience conducting phase 1-IV research trials.
Rich Arcé
Data Transfer support
Rich Arcé is a Research Data Program Manager who earned his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from Arizona State University and a certificate in full-stack development from the University of Arizona. He has worked with the Brain and Body Donation Program for the past 7 years assisting in research on neurodegenerative diseases and database functionality.
If you or a loved one is interested in learning more about the Brain and Body Donation Program, please contact us at (623) 832-6500.
The BBDP receives financial support from the National Institute on Aging (P30AG19610 and P30AG072980 Arizona Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (U24 NS072026 National Brain and Tissue Resource for Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders), the Arizona Department of Health Services, Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium (contracts 4001, 0011, 05-901 and 1001 to the Arizona Parkinson's Disease Consortium), the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and the Sun Health Foundation.
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