Shana D. Stites, PsyD, MA, MS, is an Instructor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a clinical psychologist and a researcher with the Penn Program on Precision Medicine for the Brain (P3MB).
Dr. Stites’s research focuses on advancing diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease dementia. The goal is to understand ways to promote quality of life and psychological wellbeing. This includes understanding the impacts of the disease on individuals who may be directly affected by pathology as well as their family members. It includes both personal experiences as well as population-level interactions. Her work aims to better understand how aspects of identity, such as age, gender, and race, operate as determinants in the disease experience. Understanding these features of the disease experience may offer insights into disease-mechanisms and into development of interventions that help limit burdens of the disease.
Dr. Stites earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from Chestnut Hill College and masters of arts 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.