Director of the Brain and Body Donation Program - Thomas Beach, MD, PhD

Dr. Beach was trained in anatomic pathology and neuropathology and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, in Neuropathology. Dr. Beach has been the recipient of multiple grants and awards from agencies 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 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. Dr. Beach may be reached by email at Thomas.Beach@bannerhealth.com

Director of the Brain and Body Donation Program Neuropathology Laboratory – Geidy Serrano, PhD

Dr. Geidy Serrano completed a 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 joined the Brain and Body Donation program at Banner Sun Health Research Institute (BSHRI), Arizona and has been supervising all laboratory operations in the BBDP since 2010. 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.

Dr. Serrano may be reached by email at Geidy.Serrano@bannerhealth.com

Tissue Request and Transfer support, Neuropathology Research Scientist: Ileana Lorenzini, PhD

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 career she focused on studying the changes in glial cell biology during chronic neurodegenerative diseases. As a post-doctoral research fellow she worked at the neurology department, neuromuscular division at JHU and then joined Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) in Phoenix, Arizona where 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 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.

Dr. Lorenzini may be reached by email at Ileana.Lorenzini@bannerhealth.com

Participant Enrollment Support: Angela Kuramoto - Angela.Kuramoto@bannerhealth.com

Mrs. Kuramoto has a bachelor’s degree in health care management and a master’s degree in health care administration.

She is a certified clinical research coordinator and has been working in clinical research for the last 26 years conducting phase 1-IV research trials.

Data Transfer support: Rich Arce - Richard.Arce@bannerhealth.com

Rich Arcé is a Research Data Program Manager who received a Bachelors in Kinesiology from Arizona State University and went on to receive a certificate in full-stack development from the University of Arizona.

He has been working with the Brain and Body Donation Program for the past 7 years assisting in the research of neurodegenerative diseases and database functionality.

Staff of the Brain and Body Donation Program

There are more than 35 personnel supporting the BBDP, including neurologists, pathologists, neuropsychologists, nurse practitioners, nurses, psychometrists, neuroscientists, technicians, coordinators and administrative assistants.