Cindy Weinstein, PhD
Professor & Literary Critic
We need to develop a caregiving system that treats people with dementia with kindness and respect and supports the people who love them.
Current Work
Cindy is the Eli and Edythe Broad Professor of American literature at the California Institute of Technology, and her expertise is in the nineteenth century. She has written three monographs and edited four volumes. Additionally, she teaches courses in women’s fiction, Black literature, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allan Poe. She has served in several administrative positions during her academic career.
Personal Hero
Her undergraduate advisor, Michael Gilmore
Words of Strength
Writing humorously, passionately, and well
Vision
To reduce the scale and impact of dementia, we need to develop a caregiving system that treats people with dementia with kindness and respect and supports the people who love them.
Strategy
Cindy has written Finding the Right Words: A Story of Literature, Grief, and the Brain (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021) with Bruce Miller that both illustrates the emotional challenges of loving someone with dementia and provides caregivers with an explanation of the neurological complexities of dementia.
Impact
Cindy studied neurology and the genre of memoir in order to write a book with Bruce Miller. Writing the book was not only the primary achievement of her fellowship year, but of her life.
Motivation
One facet of dementia treatment discussed in her book with Bruce Miller is how “agitation” triggers pharmacological interventions, which often lead to further agitation in a relentless cycle. The US medical establishment needs to think more deeply about alternative approaches.
Education & Experience
Cindy Weinstein received her PhD degree at UC Berkeley. Her area of expertise is American literature, and she has taught at Caltech since 1989.
Awards & Honors
I am the first female English professor at Caltech to have a named chair –– the Eli and Edythe Broad Professor of English
Videos
Podcasts
The Travis Macy Show
Cindy Weinstein: Finding the Right Words: A Story of Literature, Grief, and the Brain
Atlantic, Pacific and Beyond: Cindy Weinstein, Adolfo Garcia and Kuri Tituana
Global Equity
Thoughts from a Page
Cindy Weinstein and Dr. Bruce Miller - FINDING THE RIGHT WORDS
News
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