Desirée C. Bygrave is a Postdoctoral Research Associate with University of Delaware’s Biopsychosocial Health and Cognition Lab where she examines relations among endothelial function, brain, cognition, and, the mediating role of brain pathology in the context of race-related health disparities. She completed her Ph.D. in Neuropsychology at Howard University in Washington, DC under the supervision of Dr. Dené Mwendwa. Her graduate research integrated a biopsychosocial approach to investigating the role of cardiovascular disease risk factors on cognitive function and hemodynamic variability. She hopes her research will serve as a guide to further understand these concepts and to inform the nature in which early intervention practices could reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease and protect or improve brain health. Dr. Bygrave served as a graduate research assistant at Howard University’s Health Promotion and Risk Reduction Research Center within Washington, DC and adjunct lecturer in Neuropsychology at Howard University. She also served as a mentor and laboratory scientist for American Psychological Association’s 2016 “I am Psyched!”  Museum Day Live campaign inspiring Girls of Color to explore careers in the social and behavioral sciences, and, share the ways in which psychology can be used to make positive social change. Dr. Bygrave obtained her B.S. degree in Biology in 2008 from Voorhees College in Denmark, SC and her M.S. degree in Psychology in 2011 from Howard University.