Dr. Cheryl Grady

Senior Scientist Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre

Professor (cross-appointment) Dept. of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Toronto

Assistant Director Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre

Canada Research Chair in Neurocognitive Aging

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Research Focus

My research focuses on the use of brain imaging to explore the functional changes that occur in aging and how these relate to changes in behaviour.

A hypothesis is that we can demonstrate functional reorganization in the brains of older individuals when the experimental conditions are conducive to good performance in the elderly.

A recent experiment showed that older individuals have reduced activity in medial temporal regions but greater activity in left prefrontal cortex, compared to young adults, during a short-term face memory task.

The old adults' performance on this task was only slightly below that of the young adults, indicating that increased utilization of prefrontal cortex may have compensated in some way for dysfunction elsewhere in the brain.

This research will aid us in rehabilitation efforts by helping us to understand the brain alterations that are responsible for improvements that occur with training.

This research is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

Education

• 1982: PhD, Experimental Psychology, Boston University Boston, MA USA
• 1977: MA, Experimental Psychology, Boston University Boston, MA USA
• 1975: BA, Behavioral Science , Rollin College Winter Park, FL USA

Academic Appointments

• 2010–Present: Senior Scientist, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre
• 2010–Present: Professor (cross-appointment), Dept. of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Toronto
• 2010–Present: Assistant Director, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre
• 2005–Present: Canada Research Chair in Neurocognitive Aging
• 2004–2005: Assistant Director, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, ON Canada
• 1996–2005: Senior Scientist , Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, ON Canada
• 2002–2005: Professor (cross-appointment), Dept. of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
• 1997–2002: Associate Professor (cross-appointment), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
• 1996–2002: Associate Professor (cross-appointment), Faculty of Medicine (Psychiatry), University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
• 1990–1996: Research Psychologist and Chief, Unit on Positron Emission Tomography Laboratory of Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD USA
• 1981–1990: Research Psychologist, Laboratory of Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD USA

Professional Affiliations

• 2010: Society for Neuroscience
• 2010: Organization for Human Brain Mapping
• 2010: Memory Disorders Research Society
• 2010: International Neuropsychological Society

Reviewership

Committee

• 2005–Present: Local Organizing Committee, 11th annual meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (Chair )
• 2004–2006: Scientific Program Committee, Organization for Human Brain Mapping
• 2000–2003: Behavioural Sciences B committee member, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
• 2000–2004: Education Committee, Rotman Research Institute (Chair)
• 2000–2004: Graduate Committee, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
• 2008–2010: Behavioural Sciences C committee member, Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Editorial Board

• 2010: NIH Special Emphasis Panels and site visits (Reviewer )
• 2010: Human Brain Mapping
• 2010: Neuropsychology
• 2010: Psychology and Aging (Associate Editor)
• 2010: Behavioral Neuroscience

Distinctions and Awards

• 2010: The Justine and Yves Sergent Award for Women in Neuroscience
• 2005: Canada Research Chair in Neurocognitive Aging (Tier 1)

Research Projects

External

• 2005–2010: FMRI studies of age related differences in the brain networks underlying different forms of memory
  Collaborators: Dr. CL Grady

  Sponsors: CIHR, 99,669/yr

• 2005–2010: Behavioral and Functional Neuroimaging Studies of Remote Spatial Memory
  Collaborators: Dr. M Moscovitch, Dr. CL Grady

  Sponsors: CIHR, 100,862/yr

• 2003–2008: Sensory and Cognitive Aging
  Collaborators: Dr. B Schneider

  Sponsors: CIHR, 176,278/yr

• 2007–2012: Age Related Differences in Working Memory for “What” and “Where” in the Auditory System
  Supervisor: Dr. CL Grady, Dr. C. Alain

  Sponsors: CIHR, 58,630/yr

  Operating grant

• 2007–2010: Neural Mechanisms of Memory Rehabilitation in Aging
  Collaborators: Dr N Anderson

  Sponsors: CIHR, 116,128/yr

  Operating grant
  
  

• 2004–2007: The Influence of Visual Deprivation on the Development of Human Visual Pathways: Neuroimaging of Patients Treated for Congenital Cataract during Infancy.
  Collaborators: Dr D Maurer

  Sponsors: CIHR, 101,871/yr

  Operating grant

• 2004–2007: Pattern Recognition and Scene Analysis in Older Adults
  Collaborators: Dr P Bennett

  Sponsors: CIHR, 92,680/yr

  Operating grant
  

• 2007–2009: Brain Changes Associated with Treatment of Anomia in Aphasia
  Collaborators: Dr E Rochon

  Sponsors: Heart and Stroke Foundation

  Operating grant

• 2007–2011: Towards clinical fMRI: Characterizing a rapid, multi-task fMRI battery as a function of age
  Collaborators: Dr. S Strother

  Sponsors: CIHR, 59,394/yr

  Operating grant

• 2008–2011: Dissociating regional changes in prefrontal cortex structure and function that impact memory performance during normal aging
  Collaborators: Dr. N Rajah

  Sponsors: CIHR, 86,882/yr

  Operating grant

• 2010–2015: fMRI Studies of Age-Related Differences in Brain networks and Brain Variability
  Collaborators: Dr. CL Grady

  Sponsors: CIHR, 104,240/yr

  Operating grant

Contact

The Rotman Research Institute
Baycrest
3560 Bathurst Street, 1064
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M6A 2E1 Phone: 416-785-2500 x3525 Email: cgradyrotman-baycrest.on.ca Fax: 416-785-2862