UCI ABC-DS Team

Dr. Ira T. Lott is a child neurologist at the University of California, Irvine and CHOC Children’s Hospital. He graduated from Ohio State University College of Medicine and received his training in pediatrics, neurology, and child neurology through the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He served as a Clinical Research Associate at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School as Clinical Director of the Eunice Kennedy Schriver Center for Mental Retardation from 1974-1983. In 1983, Dr. Lott was recruited to the University of California, Irvine where he has been a tenured professor. In 2012, he became Emeritus Professor. Dr. Lott’s research interest is focused on development and aging in Down syndrome. He received two national awards for his research and has been commended by the California State Senate for his work on behalf of individuals with intellectual disabilities. He served as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Down Syndrome Society and is a Board member of the Down Syndrome Association of Orange County. Dr. Lott’s research has been supported by the NIH, Alzheimer’s Association, and the State of California.

Dr. Silverman began conducting research on various aspects of developmental disorders in 1972 as a Research Scientist at the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities (IBR), becoming Chief of its Department of Psychology in 1989. He moved to the Kennedy Krieger Institute and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2006, serving as a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and becoming Director of its Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center. He then joined the Department of Pediatrics of the University of California, Irvine in 2018 to continue pursuing his longstanding program of research (begun in 1987) focused on Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome. 

Dr. Totoiu is board certified in pediatrics and neurology with special qualification in child neurology. Prior to joining CHOC, Dr. Totoiu received her medical degree from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Targu-Mures, Romania. She completed her residency training in pediatrics at King-Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, and conducted her fellowship in pediatric neurology at Harbor-UCLA in Torrance, California. Dr. Totoiu is fluent in Romanian and Hungarian and understands basic Spanish

Eric Doran serves as the primary community liaison and leads research participant recruitment for the Center.  For over 20 years he has held various roles within UCI, leading clinical and research activities. He holds a masters degree in Genetic Counseling from UC Irvine. Mr. Doran’s research interests are focused on furthering understanding of development and aging in persons with Down syndrome with an emphasis on the biological relationship between Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease.

Kelley is a UC Irvine alumna and has worked at UCI for over 10 years. She began her career at UCI working in the Alzheimer’s Disease research lab of Dr. David Cribbs and joined the Down Syndrome Program team 6 years ago as a study coordinator. She is a liaison between families/participants and the research team; coordinating and scheduling participant visits, conducting study cogntive tests and study partner interviews, assisting with participant’s neuroimaging scans and biospecimen collection, and working with research regulatory agencies.

Sierra started out at UC Irvine as a work study student in the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center’s Tissue Repository. After graduating from UCI, she continued working in the Repository as a lab assistant. She has now been a part the ABC-DS study as the Neuropathology Coordinator for the last 3 years, recruiting and registering participants for brain donation. These generously donated brains provide so much valuable information and data to help researchers in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.