Dr. Christine DeLorenzo received her PhD in Biomedical Engineering (concentration: medical imaging) from Yale University in 2007. Her goal is to use brain imaging to improve health outcomes, through better detection, prognosis and treatment of disease. She has been the principal investigator for studies funded by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, focused on using imaging to probe the neurobiology of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease in mouse and human models.
As the Director of the Center for Understanding Biology using Imaging Technology (CUBIT), Dr. DeLorenzo ensures accurate quantification of the state-of-the-art imaging modalities available at SBM including positron emission tomography (PET). Extracting multi-modality measures from imaging can improve our understanding of pathophysiology and enhance diagnosis and treatment of diseases like Alzheimer’s. Using PET with mathematical models, Dr. DeLorenzo can visualize and quantify neurotransmitter systems such as the brain’s cholinergic system (known to be affected in Alzheimer’s disease) as well as targets like brain inflammation and metabolism. These studies will help us better understand the process of healthy brain aging as well as diagnose and treat dementia and other age-related diseases.
With appointments in both SBM and SBU, Dr. DeLorenzo’s multidiscliplinary background will aid in bringing together basic and clinical scientists to tackle the most challenging problems in aging research.
Dr. Suzanne Fields, Oberleder Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Stony Brook, graduated from the University Of Connecticut School of Medicine, completed a residency and chief residency at Waterbury Hospital, a Yale-affiliate, and a Kaiser Fellowship in General Internal Medicine at Cornell University Medical School/New York Hospital. Dr. Fields heads the large Division of General, Geriatric and Hospital Medicine with approximately 100 internal medicine faculty members, who care for older patients in the hospital, office, nursing home, subacute rehabilitation centers, assistive living facilities and home settings.
Dr. Fields spearheaded an Enhanced Geriatric Care Program for older adults who are frail through New York HEAL funding and a NCQA III Patient Centered Medical Home for the outpatient practice sites. She was instrumental in initiating HELP and BOOST programs on the medical floors. She served as principal investigator (PI) of two successful Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) grants to establish and build the Long Island Geriatric Education Center and helped create a highly successful geriatric fellowship program, which has trained over 70 fellows since its inauguration, including several geriatric hospitalists. She is currently researching the effectiveness of home telemonitoring and virtual telehealth visits in managing older patients with complex medical conditions.
Over her career, Dr. Fields has been recognized as a “best doctor” in geriatrics by Castle Connolly, New York Magazine, and Super Doctors.
