As a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Tallie Z. Baram's lab at the University of California-Irvine, I have the unique opportunity to be involved in the Conte Center on Brain Programming in Adolescent Vulnerabilities. This is a collaborative and interdisciplinary translational research center that focuses on probing the complex role of early-life experience in the brain programming that governs resilience or vulnerability to mental illnesses during adolescence. The ultimate goal of our research is to use animal models and human neuroimaging to help identify children who may later be vulnerable to adolescent mental health disorders, as well as establish more effective treatments. 

As a graduate student researcher at Duke University, I was fortunate to become involved with the Bass Connections interdisciplinary research initiative. As the graduate student leader of the "Maternal Nutrition and the Developing Brain" project team, I helped design and conduct novel translational research exploring the biological underpinnings of postpartum depression. Find out more about my experience in this valuable program here.