Welcome Drs. Ikenna Odoh, Jacqueline Pontes Monteiro, and Kyle Edmunds

We are thrilled to welcome our newest lab members to the team!

Ikenna Odoh, MD is a graduate research assistant from the Master of Public Health Program with an interest in improving health outcomes for people of disadvantaged and underserved backgrounds. Prior to joining the lab, he was a medical student at the Rostov State Medical University where he recently earned his medical degree.

Jacqueline Pontes Monteiro, PhD is a Health Disparities Scientist in the ADNI Engagement Core. Jaqueline has been involved in academic education, clinical nutrition, administration, and nutrition research for the past 20 years at the University of São Paulo, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Brazil. She has extensive experience as a Principal Investigator in numerous research projects, designing community-based participatory studies, analyzing databases, and publishing many peer-reviewed articles. Her most recent research projects have focused on understanding systems biology and identifying biomarkers of pediatric chronic diseases, such as obesity and type II diabetes, using OMICs tools (genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics). The goal was to identify distinct metabolic groups (metabotypes) and biomarkers, both at baseline and following nutritional interventions. She aimed to associate these metabolic groups/biomarkers with lifestyle factors (diet, physical activity), social determinants of health, proteomics, genetic ancestry, and polygenic risk scores. Jacqueline is committed to addressing health disparities.

Kyle Edmunds, PhD is a Scientist. Kyle completed their postdoctoral fellowship in the Okonkwo Lab before moving to Iceland to teach at Reykjavik University. Our collaboration continued during this time and now they are officially rejoining the lab as a part-time Scientist. Their work focuses on how modifiable risk factors such as sleep and physical activity influence genetics and AD biomarkers, with a focus on neuroimaging.