Welcome! I’m a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School’s McLean Hospital and a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Harvard Department of Psychology. I study how human brain circuits coordinate with each other in time and space to produce behavior, how this coordination goes awry in psychopathology, and how we can advance computational methods for fMRI data analysis to deepen insights about the brain. My topical focuses include corticostriatal circuits, self-control, habits, drug addiction, psychopathy and the intersection of neuroscience and public policy/law.

Background

My research program emerges from a fusion of diverse training backgrounds. As a postdoctoral fellow, my joint neuroanatomy-neuroimaging training with Dr. Suzanne Haber and Dr. Elliot Stein fueled insights about how to:

1) leverage “ground-truth” anatomy data to sculpt fMRI analysis methods that better model the known neurobiological composition and function of brain circuits, and then

2) leverage these anatomy-informed computational fMRI methods to reveal deeper insights about brain circuit composition and its role in behavior and disease

In addition, as a graduate student, my joint training in Neuroscience and Public Policy drove evaluation of how neuroscience research can inform broader societal issues, such as the use of neuroimaging in the courtroom, the aptness of legal definitions of culpability and insanity, and how emerging research on drugs and addiction should impact policy. Collectively, these cross-cutting endeavors forge my unique perspective and approach to studying the brain and human behavior.