Official Bio
Dr. Duke Han is a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology in clinical neuropsychology, Director of Neuropsychology in the Department of Family Medicine, and a tenured Full Professor of Family Medicine, Neurology, Psychology, and Gerontology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Dr. Han is interested in the study of factors that impact cognition and decision making in aging. He also has special interests in using novel neuroimaging and statistical approaches to better understand these factors. Dr. Han maintains an active research collaboration with the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where he was most recently a tenured faculty member and continues to retain a visiting professor status. He was the recipient of the prestigious Paul B. Beeson Career Development Award in aging research, which is supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the American Federation of Aging Research (AFAR), and the John A. Hartford Foundation. Dr. Han is actively involved in peer-review of aging and Alzheimer’s Disease research grants for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is currently serving as the Chair of the NIA Clinical and Translational Research of Aging Review Committee (NIA-T). He reviews manuscripts for over 30 scientific journals and is on the editorial board for the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. Dr. Han is an inaugural Governance Committee member of the Global Council for Brain Health, an independent science collaborative convened by the AARP with support from AgeUK tasked to summarize scientific knowledge regarding brain health topics for the aging public. Dr. Han currently serves as an oral examiner for the clinical neuropsychology board certification process and holds leadership or mentorship roles in the International Neuropsychological Society (INS), the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN), the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN), and the Society of Clinical Neuropsychology (Division 40) of the American Psychological Association. His work has been featured in Reuters, CBS, PBS, Forbes, Fox Business News, and U.S. News and World Report.
Unofficial Bio
Duke grew up in the Chicagoland area the son of Korean immigrants, listening to 80s big hair rock bands, and watching a lot of TV sitcoms. His interests in aging began with a formative volunteer experience in a nursing home of persons with severe dementia. His interest in the brain was sparked by a Psychology course he took his senior year of high school. As a sophomore at Duke University (yes, his name is Duke and he went to Duke—totally a random coincidence), he switched his major from Biomedical Engineering/Premed to Psychology/Neuroscience after discovering the wonders of Clinical Neuropsychology in a course taught by Dr. James Blumenthal. He stayed at Duke University employed as a Research Assistant for one year under Dr. Blumenthal, and then pursued a Clinical Psychology PhD at the University of Massachusetts Boston while training in advanced neuropsychology and neuroimaging techniques at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He later completed his internship and fellowship years at UCSD, and then began his tenure-track career at Loyola University Chicago. As an undergraduate at Duke University, he worked part-time as a guitarist in a number of musical acts, including the acoustic blues act The Beale Street Blues Band, the fraternity rock band Fervor, and the folk singer/songwriter act Duke and Maria. As a graduate student in Boston, he occasionally performed his own music on the streets of Harvard Square and bought burritos for his wife with his earnings. In his free time, he enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife and two kids, who frequently make fun of his taste in music.