Congratulations are in order for our past and current students and research assistants in the Leal Lab.
Eva Dicker, 5th year graduate student, will be starting a tenure-track position at Seattle University in the Fall! As an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Seattle University, Eva plans on continuing her interdisciplinary, multimethod approach to exploring basic and translational models of cognition, emotion, and health in high stress undergraduate students and older adults. Specifically, she hopes to understand how emotion regulation can mitigate the impacts of psychological stressors on physiological and psychological health.
Rishi Vas, former undergraduate research assistant in the lab, will be starting medical school at Columbia University VP&S. At VP&S, he plans to continue research (cognitive science/neurology) and also be a part of the Washington Heights community through volunteering and advocacy. He also plans to immerse himself in New York City and serve a diverse group of patients. As of now, he hopes to pursue academic medicine in the fields of neurology or cardiology!
Taylor Phillips, former undergraduate research assistant in the lab, will be starting medical school at Penn Perelman School of Medicine. Taylor aims to continue research in disorders/diseases of aging such as stroke and dementia. She hopes to explore potential protective factors against these disorders from a socioeconomic framework by using lesion studies and network analysis. At Perelman, she will also be continuing her work in community outreach and health equity by continuing to volunteer in providing education about stroke, aphasia, dementia, and healthy aging in the community as a member of the Community and Social Action group at the Penn Medicine Dept. of Neurology IDARE group and in collaboration with ARCH (Aphasia Resource Collaboration Hub).
Alexis Bailey, research assistant in the lab, will be starting medical school at Baylor College of Medicine. While in school, Alexis plans to continue research related to Alzheimer’s Disease and her volunteer work with children in foster care. Alexis is interested in pursuing geriatric or pediatric psychiatry or neurology, and she looks forward to a lifetime of learning in medicine.
Brandon Hayes, former undergraduate research assistant in the lab, will be starting graduate school in the The Human Development Graduate Group at UC Davis, which specializes in developmental research from birth to death and the contexts through which it occurs. Through the lenses of family, community, health, and nutrition, the department utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to identify current deficits in development and their impact on varying communities. Brandon plans to study how nutrition during pregnancy and in infancy affects the development of critical brain structures utilized in memory, emotion regulation, and more to better understand differences in outcomes across population groups.
