Postdoc: University of Florida Department of Neurology 

Ph.D.:  University of Pennsylvania, Anthropology 

MA: Hunter College, Creative Art 

BA: Bard College, Fine Art 

2016 Accomplishments  

Dr. Blonder is a Professor in the Department of Behavioral Science and a member of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging.  Dr. blonder has been actively involved in teaching, research and service during the 2016 calendar year.  In the Spring semester of 2016, Dr. Blonder taught for the first time an upper level undergraduate proseminar (HON 301-004) in the Honors Program (now Lewis Honors College) entitled “Frontiers in Integrative and Alternative Medicine.” She will again teach this in the Spring of 2017.  Dr. Blonder also served as a preceptor in Introduction to Clinical Medicine during the Spring and Fall 2016 semesters.  She is currently developing an elective for first and second year medical students on integrative and alternative medicine to be taught in the Spring of 2017. She also received faculty development funds from UK Analytics and Technology to develop an upper level online undergraduate course (BSC 425) on integrative and alternative medicine to be offered in the 2017-2018 academic year.  Dr. Blonder serves on five doctoral committees and is supervising the capstone project of an undergraduate in the Honors College.  This student recently submitted an abstract based on this project to the National Conferences on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).  With respect to research, Dr. Blonder and collaborators are examining the hypothesized association of single nucleotide polymorphisms, levodopa medication, and neuropsychological test performance using the Parkinson Progressive Markers Initiative database, a Michael J Fox Foundation project that includes nationally collected longitudinal data on hundreds of Parkinson patients.  This project will provide pilot data for future extramural grant submissions.  Dr. Blonder is the author of a manuscript based on Parkinson’s work that is currently under review.  Dr. Blonder’s service activities are extensive. She was elected by the faculty of UK in the Spring of 2016 to represent them on the Board of Trustees.  Her three term began in late June of 2016. She is one of two faculty members who serve on the Board.  As a trustee, Dr. Blonder is on the Academic and Student Affairs Committee and the Human Resources & University Relations Committee.  She also serves as an ex-officio voting member of the University Senate, and an elected member of the University Senate Council (2016-2019).  At the college level, Dr. Blonder served on the Graduate Center for Gerontology Six Year Review Committee for the College of Public Health.  At the state level, she is a member of the Coalition of Faculty Senate Leadership. Nationally she served as a consultant reviewer for the Loan Repayment Programs for both the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Drug Abuse.  She is also actively involved in the peer-review of manuscripts for various journals.