Barbara Bendlin, Ph.D., is a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She serves as the deputy director of the university’s Center for Health Disparities Research and directs the Neuroscience and Public Policy graduate program. Her National Institutes of Health-funded research focuses on aging and neurodegenerative disease, with a particular emphasis on brain imaging and the role of factors which impact dementia risk, including the gut microbiome, vascular risk factors, and social contextual factors. Dr. Bendlin leads the Research Education Component at the Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and is committed to fostering the development of the next generation of dementia researchers.