Clinical Neuroscience Lab - Alumni
Colleen Sheller
Colleen graduated from Northeastern University in 2021, where she earned her B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in Biological and Chemical Sciences. While at Northeastern, Colleen worked in Dr. Sara Lazar’s Lab at MGH and Harvard Medical School using fMRI and neuropsychological assessments to study the neural and cognitive changes associated with a mindfulness training intervention in older adults. Additionally, Colleen worked with Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett and Dr. Karen Quigley at the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Lab at MGH and Northeastern, studying how affect regulation strategies are protective of cognitive and affective functioning and how these strategies are associated with the structure and connectivity within the salience and default mode networks.
We greatly appreciate all of her hard work and her many contributions to the lab during her two years with us. Colleen has worked diligently to complete the NARSAD/tVNS study enrollment and sample, 2 projects investigating the neuromodulatory effects of respiratory-gated Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) in patients with Major Depressive Disorder. Simultaneously, she coordinated our U54 SCORE Project 2 activities, conducted NP testing, and helped with database set-up and report design. Colleen has continually and graciously taken on new responsibilities, while maintaining high quality across all her work.
Colleen was accepted at Goucher College in Maryland to prepare for Med School.
Kyle Chrystal
Kyle graduated from Cornell University in 2021 from the College of Arts & Sciences with a B.A. in Psychology (Neurobiology and Behavior concentration) and Spanish. A multidisciplinary researcher, his research experience began under Dr. David M. Smith in The Laboratory of Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, working on contextual memory studies with rats. From there, he completed a research project on COVID-19, studying the impact of behavior on epidemiology, and an honors thesis project on the rhetorical and psychological manifestations of the US – Mexico border. He is interested in novel treatments for psychopathology, specifically psychosis. In our Lab, Kyle worked on our U54 grant, investigating the impact of prenatal stress-immune programming of depression and autonomic dysregulation.
Kyle relocated to Colorado to enjoy the great spaces and continuing with Grad school in veterinary /anthropology
Nina Kosowsky
Nina graduated from Dartmouth College in 2021 with a B.A. in Neuroscience and a Global Health Certificate. Her research experience began during her freshman year of college in a lab that was attempting to model human decision-making and probabilistic inference. She spent the next few years studying the neurobiology of learning and memory in rats, and her senior honors thesis used classical conditioning paradigms to determine the role of the rodent postrhinal cortex in auditory cue learning. She also spent several months working with a non-profit organization in Nepal researching best practices for implementing maternal health initiatives in areas with limited healthcare access.
Nina has worked on a project studying subjects in a longitudinal cohort with the goal of assessing how factors such as sex, prenatal immune stress, and depression impact cognition and the development of Alzheimer’s disease in the aging brain. Nina had an incredible gift to connect with our study subjects and we are grateful for her great work during her time in the Lab.
Natalie Fletcher
Natalie graduated from Stanford University in 2020, where she earned her B.S. in Symbolic Systems with a concentration in Cognitive Science. While at Stanford, Natalie worked in three different research labs for one year each. Prior to joining us, her most recent experience was at the Pediatric Pain Management Clinic, where she assisted with research on neuronal circuitry of pain processing and developing new approaches for treating chronic pain in children and adolescents. Natalie’s worked on our Aging and Emotion studies - studying the effects of sex and prenatal immune exposure on negative affective circuitry and emotion dysregulation in midlife.
Natalie moved to a Research Project Manager role at the Boston University School of Medicine
Paris Fisher
Paris graduated from Barnard College in 2020, where she received her B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior. Her research experience began at the New York State Psychiatric Institute assisting Dr. Victor Luna and Dr. Rene Hen on a study exploring neurogenesis as a potential therapeutic target in alleviating age-related cognitive decline. Within our Lab, Paris was working on a project that aims to validate and enhance a clinical risk algorithm for early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease and memory circuitry deficits in individuals at high risk for cognitive decline later in life. Paris’ contribution to our Lab has been invaluable, and we're excited to see where your future journeys take you!
Eneja Senko, MS
Enejda Senko, M.S. received her Master of Science in Clinical Research from the Boston University School of Medicine in 2021 and has a Bachelor of Science in Cognitive Neuroscience from Brown University. She has an extensive background in research and healthcare and is interested in improving the management of research studies while maximizing productivity and subject engagement. She served as the Administrator in the Precision Brain Health Laboratory, where she managed all aspects of the study protocol and recruitment and coordinated study staff and collaborators. Previous experience includes working as a healthcare and science analyst and research manager at Guidepoint (working with client investment firms to analyze data and trends) and an RA position in the Department of Gender Development and Molecular Cell Biology at Brown. She has also been an Emergency Medical Technician during her time at Brown University. In the Lab, Enejda served as the HATCH II & Aging II Project manager before moving on to a Sr. Project Specialist position at Moderna.
Jessica Stowell
Jessie recently graduated from Boston University's Master of Speech-Language Pathology program and is now treating and assessing pediatric patients with a variety of communication disorders at Northeast Rehabilitation Hospital Network's Pediatric Outpatient Clinic in Methuen, MA.
She hopes to also become involved in clinical research and comprehensive testing in the field of speech-language pathology. Jessie feels that during her time as a clinical research coordinator she gained a better understanding of how to administer cognitive assessments, interpret results from research articles, and explain novel research, which has been helpful in her new career.
Rachel Staley
After her time at the CNL-SD Lab, Rachel relocated to San Diego, CA where she is currently looking to get involved in clinical work and helping treat patients with mental health disorders such as depression and PTSD. She also plans to apply to graduate programs for the upcoming year. During her time in the lab, Rachel had the opportunity to work on investigative tVNS projects and participated in many aspects of the research process - from project startup and coordination to data collection and analysis - all of which will be incredibly valuable to a future career in the field.
Hannah Shields
Hannah is currently a research coordinator and psychometrician in the Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center at Baylor College College of Medicine in Houston, TX. There, she works on clinical trials and observational studies in healthy older adults and those with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Her experience at MGH provided a strong understanding of memory research and training in neuropsychological testing that is critical to her new role at Baylor.
Brianna Smith
Brianna graduated from Boston College in 2018 with a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Philosophy. Her research experience began at the University of Minnesota, investigating the therapeutic effects of Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease. At the University of Minnesota, Brianna also worked on a project studying the changes in aggregation of neuronal proteins in different genotypes of bi-transgenic J20-Htau mice. The goal of the project was to determine whether the Htau mutation is needed to see abnormal aggregation of these proteins, which is observed in about 30% of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. Interested in the effect of mental illness on memory and stress circuitry, Brianna ultimately wrote her senior Honors Thesis on the relationship between resting autonomic nervous system functioning (Heart Rate Variability and skin conductance), social anxiety, and re-experiencing of emotional autobiographical memories. In our Lab, Brianna worked on our first HATCH Study, a study that aims to validate and enhance a clinical risk algorithm for early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease and memory circuitry deficits in individuals at high risk for cognitive decline later in life.
Currently Brianna is a Medical Student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Christine graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2016 where she received her B.S. in Psychology with an emphasis in neuroscience and a minor in Sociology. Her previous research at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology involved studying the impact of emotional regulation on neural processes related to focused attention. In addition, she examined the effects of phonotactic reversals on language production and memory consolidation processes. Christine has worked in collaboration with McLean Hospital on a study investigating sex-dependent stress circuitry, neurochemistry and hormone levels in depression. She has also assisted on an aging and memory study that aimed to develop a clinical risk algorithm for early detection of individuals at risk of Alzheimer’s disease. After the CNL-SD, Christina moved on to a role of Clinical Research Assistant at McLean Hospital within the Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research. She then relocated to Illinois, working as a clinical research Associate in the Industry.
Christine Richards
Justine Cohen, PhD
Dr. Justine Cohen held a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. She received her Ph.D. in Psychological and Brain Sciences from Boston University under the mentorship of Dr. Chantal Stern. Her doctoral work focused on interactions between the medical temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex during memory retrieval at varying levels of cognitive demand.
Dr. Cohen joined Dr. Jill Goldstein's lab to merge her long-held interest in sex differences with her experience using MRI to investigate functional interactions between brain regions. Her research interests include how factors in prenatal development affect sexual differentiation of the brain and the impact of these factors throughout development. Her past research on sex hormones included studying the effects of exposure to increased estrogen in utero on brain and cognitive development and the role of sex hormones in the increased susceptibility of women with the apoE4 gene to Alzheimer's disease. In our Lab, she explored the relationship between sex differences in stress response circuitry during aging and the increased risk for major depression and cardiovascular disease in women.
Dr Cohen joined the Industry as a Medical Science Liaison.