Ask a Neuroscientist - Meet the Panelists!

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a neuroscientist? What does it mean to study the brain? And what does a neuroscientist do every day? In celebration of the 2021 Brain Awareness Week, BraiNY and Women in Learning bring you: Ask a Neuroscientist! In this panel session, our goal is to provide brain enthusiasts with a glimpse of what a day in the life of a neuroscientist is like by talking to neuroscientists at different stages in their scientific journeys.

Meet the panelists:

Hanna Yousuf

I was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. My high school curriculum had prepared me to take a more specialized medical school path. By my junior year in high school, I had decided that medical school was not my career goal. I applied to small liberal arts colleges in the United States to figure out what I was truly passionate about studying. At the College of Wooster, my interest in neuroscience began during a first-year seminar course where I learned about how the brain perceives art and music. As a neuroscience major, my senior project investigated neurobiological mechanisms underlying concomitant drug abuse.

After I graduated from college in 2012, I started working as a research technician at Indiana University – School of Medicine in South Bend, IN. My job as a research technician was a great step before graduate school. The 2-year position gave me the opportunity to learn different lab techniques, meet new faculty members, and research the type of graduate program and lab that I was interested in. I was accepted into the neuroscience graduate program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where I did my master’s thesis in Dr. Devin Mueller’s lab that looked at the role of estrogens in extinction of cocaine seeking. My dissertation in Dr. James Moyer’s lab investigates how associative fear learning influences plasticity in the retrosplenial cortex in a sex- and age-dependent manner. I am defending my PhD in a few months and planning to start a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale where I will be studying mechanisms underlying sex differences in alcohol abuse. My ultimate goal is to look for faculty positions in small liberal arts schools where I can have the opportunity to mentor young scientists.

Hayley Fisher, Ph.D.

I’m Hayley, a postdoc in Dr. Susanne Ahmari’s lab at the University of Pittsburgh. I’m studying how different brain regions communicate to support decision-making in a rodent model. My pathway to neuroscience was not straightforward. I went to college thinking I would become a marine biologist but in high school I took a psychology class that was incredibly interesting. When I absolutely hated general chemistry and got a ‘D’, I decided to switch to psychology where I developed an interest in neuroscience after taking a psychopharmacology class. In this class I was amazed by the ways that drugs could actually change the physical structure of the brain and produce

long-term impairments in decision-making. Because of this interest, I decided to seek out graduate programs where I could study how drugs alter the brain and decision-making. I had zero idea how graduate programs worked, no mentorship, and got rejected to 7 of the 8 programs I applied to. Therefore, I went to Kansas State University to work with Dr. Charles Pickens. I started with minimal research experience and no animal experience (I worked with rats at K-State). I initially struggled, but with outstanding training and mentorship from Dr. Pickens and others at K-State, I excelled towards the end of my graduate school experience. Long-term, I plan to be a professor at a university where I will continue to study the brain and behavior and mentor students, providing them with the knowledge and experiences that I did not have as a high schooler or undergraduate.

Maya Rosen, Ph.D.

My fascination with neuroscience started at 13 when I wrote a report on the role of the hippocampus in long-term memory. This interest was solidified during my high school summer internship at UCSF, when I heard a neuron fire for the first time. I attended Skidmore College specifically because it was a small liberal arts college that had an undergraduate neuroscience major (which was rare at the time). In 2007, I received a B.A. in neuroscience at Skidmore College where I designed and conducted an honors thesis with Dr. Hassan López on menstrual cycle effects on attention. Leaving college, I knew I wanted to be an academic neuroscientist, but I remained unsure at what level of analysis I wanted to conduct my research, so I decided to work for a couple of years to figure out what I connected with most. I applied for lots of research assistantships and landed one with Dr. Bob Messing at UCSF where I was trained in molecular biology and behavioral neuroscience techniques in animal models. This training provided me with fundamental knowledge in neurobiology, but I couldn’t see myself doing it for my career. When I applied to graduate school, I applied only to cognitive neuroscience programs, having had no direct experience in that field. When I was waiting to hear back from schools, I briefly volunteered in a lab doing functional MRI research with the hopes of gaining enough understanding to know what I was getting into. I was accepted to Boston University (the only school where I received an interview and the only school where I was accepted) where I completed my PhD in the Brain Behavior and Cognition program working with Dr. David Somers. My graduate work focused on understanding how long-term memory helps guide spatial attention and the neural networks that support the cooperation of these two systems. While I loved the work I did in graduate school, I was eager to apply my technical training and knowledge in cognitive neuroscience to understand the developing brain and factors that impact this development.

My interest in how experience shapes neural and cognitive development led me to join the Stress and Development Lab at the University of Washington led by Dr. Katie McLaughlin, an expert in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience and the science of early adversity. During my time working with Dr. McLaughlin (now at Harvard University), my work has focused on understanding the environmental, neural, and cognitive mechanisms that explain disparities in academic and mental health outcomes among children and adolescents.

I recently accepted a faculty position in the Neuroscience Program at Smith College. I am eager to return to a liberal arts college and bring a human neuroscience perspective to the program while continuing my research program to understand factors that contribute to healthy cognitive and neural development to allow children to reach their full potential.

David Pagliaccio, Ph.D.

David Pagliaccio is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurobiology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and a Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. His research career focuses on utilizing human brain imaging to understand the neural mechanisms underlying risk for and the expression of pediatric mental health disorders. Dr. Pagliaccio began his work at the intersection of psychology and neuroscience during his undergraduate studies at Brown University (Sc.B. 2010) including a honors thesis with Dr. David Badre. He completed graduate training in neuroscience with Drs. Deanna Barch and Joan Luby at Washington University in St. Louis (Ph.D. 2015) examining the interactions between early life stress and stress system genes on brain structure and function in children. Following this Dr. Pagliaccio completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health with Drs. Danny Pine and Ellen Leibenluft, focusing on brain imaging in youth with anxiety and irritability. Currently, he collaborates with Drs. Rachel Marsh and Randy Auerbach at CUIMC/NYSPI to examine brain structural and functional mechanisms underlying various mental health conditions in youth as well as exploring these neural measures as predictors of treatment outcomes.

Abha Karki Rajbhandari, Ph.D.

My long-term career goals are to advance the knowledge and understanding of the neurobiological basis of fear and stress while mentoring a new generation of student scientists. I moved to the USA to pursue my undergraduate studies after my high school in Nepal. I attended a small liberal arts college, first majoring in physics and then changing to biology and psychology. After taking neuroscience courses, I decided to pursue research in studies of brain functions and worked as a research technician in the lab of Dr. Wayne Aldridge at the University of Michigan. In Dr. Wayne Aldridge’s lab at the University of Michigan, I learned the skills required to understand rodent behaviors involved in motor dysfunctions and reward functions. Then I went on to pursue my graduate work in the lab of Dr. Vaishali Bakshi at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I delineated the mechanisms of stress-induced interactions between the neuropeptide corticotropin releasing factor and norepinephrine in amygdala and other forebrain structures in regulating sensorimotor gating and startle behaviors using a predator stress assay, relevant for post-traumatic stress disorder. My graduate work piqued my interest in further understanding the neural mechanisms of fear and stress and I went on to pursue my postdoctoral work with Dr. Michael Fanselow and Dr. James Waschek at the University of California-Los Angeles. Through my post-doctoral work, I delineated the mechanisms through which the neuropeptide PACAP and its receptor PAC1 regulates stress/fear behaviors via a specific amygdala microcircuitry using genetic mouse models, viral genetic tools, electrophysiology and optogenetics. I also developed and validated the stressenhanced fear learning behavior in mice. My current research focus as a new established faculty at the Icahn School of Medicine is focused on understanding the underlying mechanisms and effects of fear, stress and autonomic functions via a wholistic brain and body approach combining the skills and knowledge I gained over different stages of my scientific career.

Jennifer Persusini, Ph.D.

Dr. Perusini, a neuroscientist and entrepreneur, is Co-Founder & CEO of Neurovation Labs, Inc., a start-up biotechnology company revolutionizing the way psychiatric disorders are diagnosed and treated, starting with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Jennifer’s research forms the basis of Neurovation Labs’ pioneering research, which made the groundbreaking discovery that there is a physiological component to PTSD that can be targeted to both diagnose and treat the disorder. Jennifer and her team are currently developing a patentpending objective diagnostic test as well as a companion targeted treatment for PTSD. Jennifer earned her B.A. in Neuroscience & Behavior at Barnard College and her Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she studied the mechanisms underlying PTSD in an animal model. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship, which focused on rodent models of aging and Alzheimer’s Disease, at Columbia University in the Departments of Psychiatry and Integrative Neuroscience. Jennifer is also actively involved in nonprofit charity work. She recently co-founded PTSD Recovery Foundation of America, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charity formed to help those with PTSD recover and reintegrate, and she serves on the Board of Directors of Women in Learning (WIL), a nationwide 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the support and advancement of women in science. In 2020, Jennifer received the Barnard College Young Alumna Award for her career in PTSD healthcare; she was recently named Chair of the Barnard Entrepreneurs Network (BEnet), an alumnae organization that supports entrepreneurs at all business stages across and within all industries. She is a presenter at national biotech industry events, has been featured in numerous publications, and frequently speaks on issues pertaining to entrepreneurs across industries.