My interesting journey in science has taken me from investigating the molecular signaling of estrogen in a rat stroke model to working on the largest clinical trials in the country for menopausal women and cardiovascular risk. Classically trained as a basic neuroscientist, I had the privilege training with the leading group at Mayo Clinic conducting hormone therapy trials. Merging my research expertise in women's health and cerebrovascular disease to neuropathophysiology and vascular cognitive impairment, our current studies focus on the novel relationship between hypertension and the formation of Alzheimer's disease proteins in the demented brain. Our objective is to intertwine biochemical techniques with the latest neuroimaging technology to find molecular targets and biomarkers associated with cerebrovascular risk in vascular cognitive impairement.