Vladislava
Segen

Dr. Vladislava Segen is a postdoctoral researcher at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Magdeburg, Germany. She studied psychology and completed a PhD in experimental psychology focused on spatial memory in healthy aging. During her postdoctoral work, she shifted toward neuroscience and Alzheimer’s disease research, using immersive virtual reality, brain imaging, and computational modeling to understand how spatial navigation changes in the earliest stages of disease. Her work has been recognized through an Outstanding Women in Neuroscience award. Dr. Segen’s recent research showed that subtle navigation impairments can be detected in individuals with subjective cognitive decline, even when standard memory tests appear normal. Through her BrightFocus-funded project, she aims to test whether these navigation changes predict future cognitive decline and to identify the brain mechanisms that drive them.