Professor Rachel Whitmer is an epidemiologist with a passion for identifying modifiable risk factors for brain health and dementia in diverse populations which have previously been underrepresented in population based research. She leads a large research program funded by the National Institute of Health and the Alzheimer’s Association. Dr. Whitmer is part of the UC Davis Graduate Group Epidemiology, Graduate Group in Public Health Sciences, and is Director of the Epidemiology Core of the UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center. She is a professor in the UC Davis Department of Public Health Sciences and Chief of the Division of Epidemiology. Dr. Whitmer is Principal Investigator of the Northern California site for US POINTER the first multidomain behavioral intervention clinical trial to prevent cognitive decline, funded by the Alzheimer’s Association. Dr. Whitmer is committed to mentoring junior scientists and promoting those underrepresented in research. Her mentees include Fulbright Fellows, NIH KL-2 and K99 recipients. Her H-index is 42 and her work has been published in JAMA, BMJ, Neurology, Diabetes Care, JAMA: Neurology, and Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia.