Current

I am a PhD candidate in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Southern California, where I’m mentored by Dr. Sook-Lei Liew in the Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory (NPNL). My work brings together neuroinformatics and neuroimaging to explore biomarkers that reflect how the brain changes with disease and recovery. Right now, I’m focused on validating multimodal neuroimaging markers that can assess brain health after a stroke, understand its connection to motor and cognitive outcomes, and help predict recovery potential. Ultimately, I hope this research can lead to more personalized and effective rehabilitation strategies.

Past

Before starting my PhD, I worked in the Henry Lab in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. After two summer internships, I joined as a full-time staff researcher from 2019 to 2022, where I developed MRI data processing pipelines to support diagnosis and treatment planning for neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis.

Around the same time, I also took on a freelance consulting role with a research startup. There, I integrated proprietary image processing algorithms with open-source neuroimaging tools to build a seamless, end-to-end analysis pipeline. I also helped design and implement data quality control methods that used a citizen science approach, making it easier to maintain data integrity without relying exclusively on expert reviewers.

I earned my Master’s Degree in Physiology from Georgetown University in 2019. Prior to that, I completed a B.S. with Distinction in Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, with minors in Chemistry and Health Policy. As an undergraduate, I gained research experience in two labs: with Dr. Madalina Tivarus, I worked on mapping brain activity using resting-state fMRI, and with Dr. Lisa Starr, I studied how early-life trauma may shape the development of mood disorders in adolescents.