Denise C. Park

Biography

Dr. Denise Park is Distinguished University Professor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, where she founded the Center for Vital Longevity and is now Director of Research. She has held previous appointments as Professor of Psychology at the University of Georgia, the University of Michigan, and the University of Illinois. Her research career has been focused on the study of normal aging. At present, through her work on the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study, she is focused on isolating a neural footprint early in the lifespan that identifies future cognitive resilience and cognitive decline with age. She is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Sciences (APS). She has received both the Distinguished Research Contribution Award (2002) and the Distinguished Mentorship Award (2015) from the Division of Adult Development of Aging of the APA. She was elected President of this Division in 1991 and also chaired the Board of Scientific Affairs of the APA. She was elected to the Board of Directors of the Association for the APS. She has chaired two NIH study sections and presently serves on one. She holds a MERIT Award from the National Institute on Aging and has received continuous support of her research from the NIA for over 30 years. For a brief summary of Dr. Park’s research interests and scientific contributions please see her NIH Biosketch. Dr. Denise Park is Distinguished University Professor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, where she founded the Center for Vital Longevity and is now Director of Research. She has held previous appointments as Professor of Psychology at the University of Georgia, the University of Michigan, and the University of Illinois. Her research career has been focused on the study of normal aging. At present, through her work on the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study, she is focused on isolating a neural footprint early in the lifespan that identifies future cognitive resilience and cognitive decline with age. She is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Sciences (APS). She has received both the Distinguished Research Contribution Award (2002) and the Distinguished Mentorship Award (2015) from the Division of Adult Development of Aging of the APA. She was elected President of this Division in 1991 and also chaired the Board of Scientific Affairs of the APA. She was elected to the Board of Directors of the Association for the APS. She has chaired two NIH study sections and presently serves on one. She holds a MERIT Award from the National Institute on Aging and has received continuous support of her research from the NIA for over 30 years. For a brief summary of Dr. Park’s research interests and scientific contributions please see her NIH Biosketch.

Research Interest

Memory and cognition, quantitative models, neuroimaging, genomics, Nonverbal cognition with specific projects focused on human aging and memory, long-term memory for faces, perception of faces, eyewitness memory, and music cognition.