My undergraduate research investigated both the environmental and biological antecedents to negative affect, as seen in disorders of anxiety and fear and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. My core research question examined how the ability to regulate stressors during juvenility and adolescence influences the mediation of trauma in the progression of adult pathology.

As a 4th year graduate student, I utilize high-resolution functional imaging (7 Tesla) to investigate subcortical brain structures conventionally associated with ‘fight-or-flight’ systems. My research aims to provide a new perspective on these regions as mediators of interoception and broader brain-body communication.

More broadly, I am interested in exploring the underlying interoceptive mechanisms and anatomical connections that mediate subjective experiences of threat, anxiety, and depression.

Area: Behavioral Neuroscience
Advisors: Karen Quigley; Lisa Feldman Barrett