Dr. Maria Luisa Gorno Tempini is a behavioral neurologist, currently directing the Language Neurobiology Laboratory of the UCSF Memory and Aging Center and serving as the neurology lead of the UCSF Dyslexia Center. She obtained her medical degree and clinical neurology specialty training in Italy, and has a doctorate in the neuroimaging of language from University College London. Her clinical work concentrates on behavioral neurology across the lifespan, and her research investigates the neural basis of higher cognitive functions such as language and memory. Dr. Gorno Tempini has applied her expertise in cognitive neurology to neurodegenerative diseases, particularly primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and to language-based learning differences, such as dyslexia. In 2011, Dr. Gorno Tempini’s NIH-funded research resulted in new diagnostic criteria for PPA and its variants.

Dr. Gorno Tempini leads many projects at UCSF and is funded by the NIH and various philanthropic sources. She is particularly dedicated to mentoring and was awarded an NIH K24 grant to mentor interdisciplinary researchers in the field of clinical cognitive neuroscience.