Principal Investigator: Vanessa Brown, PhD
Vanessa is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Emory University since January 2024. Previously, she was an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. She completed her PhD in clinical psychology with Pearl Chiu in the Department of Psychology and at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech, her clinical internship at Western Psychiatric Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh with Alex Dombrovski and Rebecca Price.
In my free time, I enjoy running, gardening, reading, and exploring new places. If I could live in a cinematic universe, it would be Magic School Bus 🙂
Graduate Student: Natalya Slepneva
Natalya is a second year graduate student pursuing her PhD in Clinical Science. Before coming to Emory, Natalya pursued a bachelor in cognitive science at McGill University. Natalya is interested in using computational modeling and neuroimaging to understand the mechanisms of internalizing disorders. Specifically, Natalya hopes to focus on how changes to brain networks’ temporal dynamics could represent pathological processes, resulting in development and maintenance of these disorders.
Natalya enjoys a lot of different movies!
Graduate Student: Ning Li
Ning is a first year PhD student for the clinical science program. Ning graduated from UC Irvine with her bachelor in economics and psychology before finishing up her master in mental health counseling at UPenn. She is interested in using computational modeling and neuroimaging to study the underlying mechanisms of maladaptive avoidance behaviors in fear-related anxiety disorders.
Ning’s favorite movie is 3 Idiots; she recently saw the Bollywood classic and really enjoyed it!
Lab Manager: Julia Borthwick
Julia graduated from Emory University in 2022 with a bachelor in psychology and an interest in psychopathology and internalizing disorders.
If she could live in any universe, Julia would be in Tolkien’s Arda.
Research Specialist: Jayati Maram
Jayati graduated from UVA in 2024 with a bachelor in biomedical engineering. Her research interests include using computational modeling to understand the neural mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders. Her long-term research goals are to improve translational medicine for clinical populations.
If Jayati could live in any cinematic universe, she would want to be in the SpongeBob SquarePants world. Jayati would be a regular at the Krusty Krab!
Undergraduate RA: Mary Guan
Mary is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences at Emory (ECAS) studying Applied Math & Statistics and Psychology. Her research interest reflects her love for her majors, integrating mathematical models with psychology and borrowing psychological concepts to apply it to quantitative problem solving. In the lab, she mainly works on database management and fMRI processing.
Her fun fact is that she really loves COMPLab! (We love you too Mary!)
Undergraduate RA: Joeli Luong
Joeli is a B.S. Data Science on the economics track and B.S. Psychology student with interests in environmental health and decision-making. Her research interests include behavioral and experimental economics, game theory, and sinking cities and mechanisms behind decision making, specifically behavioral and policy driven decisions that shape environmental and public health outcomes. After graduating undergraduates, she plans to pursue a MSPH in data science in environmental health with a certificate in climate and health.
If Joeli could live in any cinematic universe, she thinks she would either be in the Harry Potter or How to Train Your Dragon world.
Undergraduate RA: Ruby Sherman
Ruby is a junior with a BS in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology in ECAS and a minor in Business from the Goizueta Business School. She hopes to pursue health equity research. In the lab, her research interests include psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders.
As for cinematic universes, Ruby would love to live in the Marvel cinematic universe!
Undergraduate RA: Tyler Smith
Tyler is a junior studying Psychology and Public Health at ECAS on a pre-Ph.D. track. Her research interests include exploring the neural circuitry that underlies neuropsychiatric disorders and experimenting with novel treatment approaches, especially those that explore functional and structural changes in the brain. Additionally, she enjoys learning about drugs and behavior, and hopes to become a behavioral psychopharmacologist.
If Tyler could live in a cinematic universe, she would pick The Gilded Age‘s world. She’d be best friends with Mrs. Bertha Russel and Ms. Marian Brook!
Undergraduate RA: Sunny Xie
Sunny is an ECAS junior studying Psychology. Sunny is primarily interested in mental health research, especially the role of biological mechanisms in psychiatric disorders.
If Sunny could exist in any cinematic universe, she would jump into the Inside Out world because she would love to find out which emotions work together when she is making decisions and which emotions typically dominate her mind. Her favorite character from Inside Out is Embarrassment because of his warmth and eagerness to help his friends.
Undergraduate RA: Frank Wang
Frank is a pre-PhD senior pursuing a BS in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology with intentions going into research. In terms of research interest, he hopes to study altered neural circuitry and underlays of anxiety disorder through integration of computational modeling.
If he could live in any cinematic universe, Frank said he’d pick the Zootopia universe so he could experience all four seasons at the same time!
Undergraduate RA: Vanessa Sun
Vanessa is a pre-PhD/MD junior studying Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology.
Undergraduate RA: Catherine
Pet Member: Karl
Karl enjoys watching birds, napping in the sun, and training his owner Vanessa to give more back rubs.
Pet Member: Jasper
Pet Member: Sasha
Pet Member: Maya
Lab Alumni
Undergraduate RA: Jacob Beldick
Jacob was from Georgia Tech and studied Biomedical and Medical Engineering.
Undergraduate RA: Janvi Choksi
Janvi studied psychology and visual arts. In terms of research, Janvi is interested in clinical and developmental psychology, specifically how clinical disorders evolve as children develop cognitively.
If Janvi could be in any cinematic universe, she would like to be in the How to Train Your Dragon world.
Undergraduate RA: Amy Lu
Amy studied psychology. She is primarily interested in exploring clinical research and predicting human behavior.
If Amy could exist in any cinematic universe, it would be the Marvel universe!
Undergraduate RA: Srija Potluri
Srija studied neuroscience and behavioral biology on the premed track. She is interested in neuroplasticity and how behavior is affected by both biological and environmental mechanisms, specifically how our emotions can be “wired” into our neural networks. In terms of neuroplasticity, Srija is intrigued by the concept in general but also its role in traumatic brain injury and rehabilitative medicine as well as a biological determinant for psychopathology.
If Srija could live in one cinematic universe, she would choose the DC comics because she used to read a lot of Batman comics and was really into the bat family superheroes!
And other random pictures!
