Claire Sexton, PhD, is the National Executive Programs Lead, Brain Health, at the American Heart Association, where she works with external research and advisory committees, fosters robust research, develops business and programmatic strategies, and drives best practices for an integrated approach to all domains of the Brain Health Initiative’s strategic priorities. Previously, Dr. Sexton completed her doctoral and postdoctoral studies at the University of Oxford, before moving to the University of California San Francisco as an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health. As a researcher, she has published over eighty journal articles that investigate the aging process, age-related diseases, and modifiable factors that promote brain health, including in Alzheimer’s and Dementia, Biological Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry, Lancet Public Health, Nature Human Behaviour, Nature Neuroscience, and Sleep. As Senior Director, Scientific Programs and Outreach, at the Alzheimer’s Association, Dr. Sexton led the strategy, development, management, and evaluation of scientific programming across the International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment (ISTAART) and the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) suite of events. In this role she also served as a spokesperson, communicating research advancements at conferences, events, and in major media outlets. Dr. Sexton completed her MBA at the University of Warwick, where her dissertation explored integrative partnerships between nonprofit organizations and professional sports teams.
