Council Member
Dr. Darlingtina Esiaka is the Director of Community Engagement, Aging & Brain Health Alliance, Rutgers University. In 2019, she received a dual-title Ph.D. in social psychology and gerontology from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. Dr. Esiaka's research interests revolve around two major themes inspired by the decolonial perspective in sciences. One focuses on the early detection of Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) in older Black men. She studies how to detect progression and conversion to ADRD in Black men long before the presentation of behavioral symptoms. The second focuses on the early detection of cancer in older Black men. She studies psychosocial factors that predict fatal stage cancer diagnosis in older Black men. Dr. Esiaka's research has been funded by government agencies and private organizations such as the NIH and the New Jersey Health Foundation (NJHF). She has received several awards, including the Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett Woman Mentoring Women award from the Emily Taylor Centre for Women and Gender Equity.