Lab Team

Walter R. Boot, PhD, is Professor of Psychology in Medicine within the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine and Associate Director of the Center on Aging and Behavioral Research at Weill Cornell Medicine. He is one of five principal investigators at the multi-disciplinary Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE), a long-standing National Institute on Aging-funded center dedicated to ensuring that the benefits of technology can be realized by older adults. He is also Co-Director of the ENHANCE (Enhancing Neurocognitive Health, Abilities, Networks, & Community Engagement) Center, funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, which focuses on how technology can support older adults living with cognitive impairment. One of the targeted populations for ENHANCE II is people with HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Impairment.

My transdisciplinary research focuses on better understanding host epigenetic and metabolic mechanisms in immune cells reprogrammed by HIV infection and aging linked to cardiometabolic disease states. Our laboratory utilizes cutting-edge immunology, epigenetic, metabolic, and single cell “omics” technologies. I received a K01 Mentored Career Development Award to Promote Faculty Diversity in Biomedical Research from National Heart Lung and Blood Institute and recently I am funded as Principal Investigator of a WCM team science NHLBI R01 aiming to enhance our understanding of immunometabolism dysfunction in older people living with HIV linked to cardiovascular disease risk. My research group is also dedicated to transdisciplinary research projects aimed at increasing knowledge towards addressing health inequalities, mitigating accelerated aging of the immune system, and combatting infectious diseases. 

Sara J. Czaja, PhD, is the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Medicine and Professor of Gerontology and the Director of the Center on Aging and Behavioral Research in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Care at Weill Cornell Medicine. She is the PI of the NIA funded multi-site Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) and the Co-Director of the ENHANCE (Enhancing Neurocognitive Health, Abilities, Networks, & Community Engagement) Center, funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, which focuses on how technology can support older adults living with cognitive impairment. Her research interests include aging and cognition, aging and healthcare informatics, caregiving, human-computer interaction, training, and functional assessment. 

Dr. DeMain is the 2022-2023 Arthur Ashe Endowment Fellow in HIV/Aging.

I am a geropsychiatric and mental health nurse with a focus on community and public health, and I have joined Weill Cornell Medicine’s Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine as a T32 postdoctoral associate in Behavioral Geriatrics. My research examines the impact of social determinants of health on mental and behavioral health outcomes in older adults, late-life suicidality, and self-management of multiple chronic conditions in vulnerable and underserved populations. I am the recipient of the Dean’s Initiative Diversity Grant to support my T32 Research Training.

My current research uses a biobehavioral approach to determine links between psychosocial factors (such as depression or stressful experiences), levels of inflammation, and health among older adults with HIV and those with other health conditions including cancer.  Because chronic inflammation can drive many of the co-occurring health problems that older PLWH and those with cancer experience, the long-term goal of this work is to identify ways that addressing these links could help to improve their overall health and physical symptoms.  For more information, please visit my website or my NCBI Bibliography.

I am interested in improving the care and quality of life for older adults living with HIV. By integrating perspectives from geriatrics into HIV care, I hope to advance understanding and develop strategies that further support healthy aging among individuals with HIV. My current research is assessing the implementation of a technology-based intervention to enhance social connection and over-all wellbeing for older adults living with HIV.  I am also a member of the Clinical Quality Advisory Committee of the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute and participating in its community-based quality improvement activities. 

My current research focuses on translational investigation of novel biomarkers of aging-related phenotypes in older adults with HIV.  I am investigating plasma and urine cell-free mitochondrial DNA as a biomarker of geriatric syndromes in older adults with HIV, as well as tissue-level mediators of inflammation in relation to cognitive dysfunction.

As a translational immunologist my research program is dedicated to confronting the challenges of HIV and aging and our team is developing specific immunological, virological and epigenetic expertise and strategies to prevent, slow or eliminate complications associated with HIV and exploring novel approaches to understand disease mechanisms to ultimately optimize quality of life outcomes. Recent interests in our team are in pioneering discoveries for achieving a cure for HIV as PI of the NIH funded Martin Delaney Collaboratory for HIV Cure, “HOPE”.   For more information, please visit my lab's website: ndhlovulab.org