Dr. Jessica Caldwell’s work on how the brain is different between men and women is setting the stage for future study. But brains weren’t always her game. It was watching her mechanic parents diagnose automotive glitches in Neguanee, Mich., that helped Caldwell hone her problem-solving skills.
“Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on a stool in the garage watching my mother and father work, telling me bits of what they were thinking and telling me to stay out of the grease,” Caldwell said.
She joined the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in February 2016 as a neuropsychologist, assuming her current post as director of clinical training in August 2018.
“My current research focuses on how Alzheimer’s disease affects men and women differently, and how we might be able to help women in particular, as women are more likely to have the disease and serve as caregivers,” she said.
Caldwell was awarded $100,000 from the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement to create a new fellowship for research into sex-based differences related to Alzheimer’s disease. It’s her hope that it will provide a training opportunity for the next generation of researchers.
Caldwell has academic appointments at the UNLV School of Medicine and the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.