Shana D. Stites, PsyD, MA, MS, is an Instructor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine. She is a clinical psychologist and a researcher with the Penn Project on Precision Medicine for the Brain (P3MB). Dr. Stites studies the ethical, legal, and social challenges of advances in precision medicine for neurological and psychiatric diseases.
Dr. Stites’s research focuses on advances in diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease dementia. Her work aims to discover their impact on individuals with the disease and their family members. The goal is to understand ways to promote quality of life and psychological wellbeing in individuals living with the disease.
A second, new focus for Dr. Stites is studying the effects of sex and gender in Alzheimer’s disease. Her work aims to better understand what drives the facts that women comprise almost two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients and that women are much more likely to be caregivers for persons with Alzheimer’s disease. Understanding these features of the disease experience may offer insights into disease-mechanisms as well as to help limit burdens of the disease.
Dr. Stites earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from Chestnut Hill College and MA in Sociology from Lehigh University. She completed her internship at Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center. Her clinical concentration was in psychological assessment with a special focus on the role of multicultural diversity in clinical practice and representation in research.