About
Lesley Ross is the SmartLife Endowed Chair in Aging and Cognition, the Director of the Institute for Engaged Aging at Clemson University, the Director of the Study of Health Aging & Applied Research Programs (SHAARP.org) lab, and a Professor of Psychology. She earned her Ph.D. in Development Psychology in 2007 and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Australian National University in 2009. Ross has served as a faculty member at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Pennsylvania State University before relocating to Clemson University in 2020. Her research focuses on the health, wellbeing and everyday functioning of older adults. Ross has multiple ongoing health-related funded studies and publications conducted in collaboration with other colleagues worldwide.
For more information, see her faculty profile
How their research is transforming health care
Ross’s work focuses on interventions to maintain the health, wellbeing and independence of older adults. To that end, her work has shown that some forms of cognitive training, or specifically designed brain games, can result in maintained cognition, improved brain connectivity and functionality, reduced risk for at-fault vehicular crashes, reduced risk for mobility declines, reduced risk for physical functioning decline and reduced risk for dementia across three to ten years.
Her current work examines the mechanisms and moderators underlying such transfer effects to investigate questions for whom these interventions work best and why. She is also studying methods that will allow these interventions and outcomes of interest to be delivered remotely to reach underserved populations.
News and media related to their research
- Clemson News – “New Clemson endowed chair to focus on aging and cognition”
- Penn State News – “New research project to analyze cognitive training programs for older adults”
- Penn State News – “Brain training program reduces risk of dementia among older adults”
- Penn State News – “Brain training may help keep seniors on the road”
- The Washington Post – “Could this computer game delay Alzheimer’s symptoms? A new study suggests that it could”
Health Research Expertise Keywords
Faculty Scholar, Aging, Alzheimer’s, disparities, exercise, health, human factors, mobile health, mobile technology, analytic modeling, neurocognitive assessment, brain health, public health, statistics
