NANCY FOLDI

Title	Professor
Area	Clinical Psychology
Ph.D.	Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
Office	A-348 Science Building
E-mail	nancy.foldi@qc.cuny.edu
Office Phone	718-997-3253

Professional Activities:

Editorial Board:
   American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias

Grant Review Panels:
    Alzheimer’s Association
    Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases Research Award Fund
    Commonwealth Professional Staff Congress – CUNY
    Equities Research studies Program: Queens College

Funding:
   Alzheimer's Association

Director of Neuropsychology and of the Memory and Cognitive Disorders Center at Winthrop-University Hospital in the Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine at Winthrop-University Hospital, Mineola, Long Island, NY affiliated with Stony Brook School of Medicine.

Research Description:

Our laboratory is interested in the effects of aging on brain-behavior relationships, with special interest on late-life changes in attentional mechanisms. Attentional processes such as selective attention, divided and covert orienting all serve to manage and direct allocation of our limited attentional resources. Late life and particularly dementing diseases place these tasks at risk, which can further disrupt downstream cognitive abilities of memory and language.

Our research focuses on understanding the effect cognitive stress, namely temporal load. That is, how our attentional capacity can manage or allocate rapidly presented information. Our attention models involve investigation of processing changes in young, old and very old healthy persons. As attention is mediated by acetylcholine and, not surprisingly, attentional dysfunctions in Alzheimer’s disease are prominent, but have received less scrutiny than memory and language. Our laboratory is investigating attentional change in response to acetylcholinesterase inhibitors in a double-blind placebo-controlled trial in patients newly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. who are starting cholinergic treatment. Alzheimer’s disease provides evidence that significant disruption of top-down processes, which would otherwise guide their attention, leave patients overwhelmed by their surround.

Selected Publications:

    Foldi, N.S., White, R.E.C, Schaefer, L.A., (2005). Effects of donepezil on signal detection in visual selective attention in Alzheimer’s disease. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 20(5), 485-488.

   Foldi, N.S., Schaefer, L.A., White, R.E.C., Johnson, R. Jr., Berger, J.T., Carney, M.T., Macina, L.O. (2005). Effects of graded levels of physical similarity and density in visual selective attention in Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychology, 19(1), 5–17.

    Zgaljardic, D.J., Foldi, N.S., Borod, J.C. (2004). Cognitive and behavioral dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease: Neurochemical and clinicopathological contributions. Journal of Neural Transmission, 111, 1287-1301.

    Foldi, N.S., Helm-Estabrooks, N., Redfield, J. & Nickel, D.G. (2003). Perseveration in normal aging: a comparison of perseveration rates on design fluency and verbal generative tasks. Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, 10(4), 268-280.

    Foldi, N.S., Brickman, A.M., Schaefer, L.A., Knutelska, M.E. (2003). Distinct serial position profiles and neuropsychological measures differentiate late life depression from normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Psychiatry Research, 120(1), 71-84. (Corrigendum, Psychiatry Research, volume 120(3), pp 295).

    Foldi, N.S., LoBosco, J. & Schaefer, L. (2002). The effect of attentional dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease: theoretical and practical implications. Seminars in Speech and Language, 23, 139 – 150.

Ph.D. Students:
    Lillian Kaplan
    Olga Nikelshpur
    Jenny Ly
    Philip Watson
    Kathleen VanDyk

Undergraduate Students:
    Georgina Damjanac
    Bibi Rapscak

Recent Media:

New York Times and CUNY

Dr. Foldi has been chosen as one of the CUNY elite scholars together with NY Times science writer Denise Grady.

Dealing with Alzheimer's The New York Times (New York Times Knowledge Network) and CUNY (CUNY School of Professional Studies) invite you to participate in a unique series of online seminars led by elite scholars, researchers, artists and authors, who will explore with you a range of informative and thought provoking topics from the historical to the contemporary, the theoretical to the practical. These seminars feature interactive webcasts, video sessions, and facilitated discussions that enable you to ask questions of our expert panelists as well as share stories and interact with a community of individuals who share your interests... all from the comfort of your own home.

Two noted Alzheimer’s authorities, Dr. Nancy S. Foldi of Queens College and Dr. Carmen Morano from the Hunter College School of Social Work will review issues related to Alzheimer’s disease and other similar dementias, which are often masked or misdiagnosed.

Queens Chronicle

Dr. Foldi interview with journalist Jillian Abbot  about her work with local seniors throughout our Queens community.

Q Magazine

Interview with Nancy Foldi and Mony DeLeon.

CUNY RADIO

Interview of Dr. Foldi with CUNY journalist.