Dr. Melissa Petersen is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in the Department of Family Medicine and Institute for Translational Research. As a Neuropsychologist, her research focuses broadly on factors related to cognitive decline with a specific emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Petersen is actively involved in several research studies focused on the impact of health disparities on cognition and aging including the Healthy and Aging Brain Study- Health Disparities. Her work has examined how blood biomarkers in can help to detect cognitive changes across multiple ethnicities.