Prof. Linda L. Chao

Linda Chao, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. She is also a Research Biologist at the San Francisco VA Health Care System. Dr. Chao obtained her B.S. in Biological Sciences and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of California at Davis. She did a post-doctoral fellowship in Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging at the National Institutes of Mental Health.

Dementia prevalence is expected to triple worldwide over the next 40 years at tremendous monetary and emotional cost. Dr. Chao’s research seeks to identifying risk factors for cognitive impairment and dementia in older adults, particularly older Veterans; and to evaluate interventions that delay onset or slow progression of cognitive impairment and dementia. She has a specific interest utilizing transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) to promote neuroplasticity and neuromodulation for brain recovery in neurodegenerative diseases.