Celizbets Colon,

Celizbets is a Clinical Research Coordinator II at the Department of Neurology at the University of Florida working with Dr. Melissa Armstrong on approaches to care for patients with dementia and their caregivers.

She has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico, a master’s degree in Applied Behavioral Sciences from the University of Kansas, and completed additional graduate-level coursework in Neurosciences at Michigan State University. When she was 16 years old, she learnt about the case of Phineas Gage, which sparked her fascination for brain, behavior, and environment dynamics and interest in working with populations with neurobehavioral disorders through research and practice. In research, she has worked in different projects in psychology, neurosciences, and applied behavioral sciences since undergraduate at different academic institutions, including the University of Puerto Rico, Michigan State University, Harvard University, and the University of Kansas Medical Center. In practice, she has been serving individuals with diverse neurological disorders across the lifespan since 2016 at clinical, community, and at-home settings as psychometrist, disability support worker, and behavior therapist in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Australia. Her field experiences allowed her to work with older adults with neurodegenerative disorders, caregivers, and providers. She is interested in research in clinical neuropsychology, evidence-based behavior therapies, and culturally responsive practices. She is also interested in advancing efforts aimed at improving the quality of life of individuals with neurobehavioral disorders and their caregivers, especially those from vulnerable backgrounds. In the future, she would like to pursue a doctoral degree that will allow her to continue fostering socially meaningful changes in the lives of individuals with neurobehavioral disorders and their families as clinical-researcher.