Alzheimer’s Awareness: Healthy Aging Care and Prevention in The Latinx Community with Dr. Mirella Diaz-Santos Artwork

Empaths Anonymous

Crystina and Danie are just your everyday black and brown eldest daughters in their early thirties, embracing their cultures and trying to navigate life as the highest versions of themselves while struggling to keep it together and carry everyone else’s shit too.

What started as humorous wine nights asking “am I the crazy one here!?” turned into a deeper need for bigger conversations on empathy, cycle breaking and mental health within BIPOC communities – enter Empaths Anonymous, a space to cry, curse, and cuddle.

Get ready for it all — conversations surrounding mental and emotional health, personal growth, community, race and culture, and more!

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Empaths Anonymous

Alzheimer’s Awareness: Healthy Aging Care and Prevention in The Latinx Community with Dr. Mirella Diaz-Santos

April 02, 2025 • Crystina Rowntree & Danielle Lamadrid • Season 1 • Episode 42

Happy Wednesday, Feelers!

This week’s episode is focused on BRAIN HEALTH with our amazing guest, Dr. Mirella Santos-Diaz, a Spanish-English bilingual and bicultural neuropsychologist, and an Assistant Professor In-Residence in the Department of Neurology.

Dr. Díaz-Santos is the director and founder of the “Equity for Latinx-Hispanic Healthy Aging (ELHA) Lab,” at UCLA Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Research and Care. Her research area is the science of recruitment and retention in Alzheimer’s primary prevention clinical care and clinical trials.

We chat about…

🇵🇷 Dr. Mirella’s journey from Puerto Rico to UCLA

🧠 Dementia Diagnoses in the Latinx Community

📑 Academic Research Accessibility

🐘 Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Awareness

💜Caregiver Support and Self-Care

🧬 Preventative Measures — It’s Not Always Genetic!

Please follow Dr. Mirella’s Journey on…

Instagram

ELHA Lab Resources:
https://elhalab.org/recursos-2-2/

Listen to Dr. Mirella on Empower Hour with Gina Zapanta
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-barriers-dr-mirella-diaz-santos-on-empowerment/id1609440947?i=1000683137557

Living On The Butter Side Stationery
https://www.etsy.com/shop/livingbuttery?listing_id=1702031882&from_page=listing
https://www.instagram.com/livingonthebutterside/

Crystina's Plant-Based Protein Powder:
https://www.kachava.com/

Chapters:

00:00 Hola Feelers!

01:33 Highlighting a Black-Owned Brand: Living on the Butter Side by Tiombe Huggins

05:38 What's in Your Cup? Girl… it’s some weird ass dreams

13:33 Welcoming Dr. Mirella Diaz-Santos to the Pod

16:10 How Dr. Mirella Diaz-Santos Decided on Neuropsychology

21:08 Challenges in Dementia Diagnosis and Care in the Latinx Community

29:23 The Missing Piece in Academic Research… US!

42:32 Who Are Cognitive Tests Made For?

48:15 Supporting Loved Ones with Dementia

56:26 Self-Care for Family Members of Dementia Patients

57:22 Preventative Measures for Brain Health

01:04:36 ELHA Lab at UCLA

01:06:57 See You Next Time on the Green Velvet Couch!

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Intro music by Heet Deth