Sadaf Milani

Sadaf Milani, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), School of Public Health. Her primary affiliation is with the Department of Epidemiology, and she holds fellowships at the Sealy Center on Aging and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health. She focuses on sex/gender differences in cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease, with recent work emphasizing pain and pain medication as modifiable risk factors.

Education:

• BS in Biology, University of Florida (2013)
• MPH in Epidemiology, University of Florida (2015)
• PhD in Epidemiology, University of Florida (2018)
• NIA T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship on Health of Older Minorities, UTMB Sealy Center on Aging (2018–2020)

Research Interests:

• Epidemiology of aging
• Cognition, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease
• Health disparities (minority and gender disparities)
• Pain and prescription opioid use
• Mental health

Grant Activity: Currently leads an NIA K01 grant (2022–2027) examining gender disparities in pain and Alzheimer’s disease. Past grants include pilot projects on Mexican American health, bilingual cognitive aging, and minority aging research. She has served as a trainee in the BIRCWH program and a postdoctoral fellow in the Health of Older Minorities T32.

Labs/Teams: Active in the Sealy Center on Aging and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health. Collaborates on projects involving the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) and bilingual cognitive aging research.