Research Faculty and Postdoctoral Fellows

Woo Young Ahn, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

My research incorporates computational modeling and neuroimaging methods to investigate the psychological and neural mechanisms of mood/anxiety and addiction disorders, also known as computational psychiatry. ...
Jason Aimone, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate
Crystal Boudreaux, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Dr. Crystal Boudreaux's research interests include innate and adaptive immune responses to viral infection and molecular virology. In the McDonald Lab, she uses her molecular ...
Dongil Chung, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Dr. Chung's research focus is social and neuroeconomic studies that include understanding social influence on risk preference using functional MRI. He is part of Dr. ...
Kimberlee D'Ardenne, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Dr. Kimberlee D'Ardenne's research focuses on applying non-invasive magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopic methods to study brainstem monoamine neuromodulatory systems, which are affected by drug addiction, ...
Anders Eklund, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Anders Eklund’s research focus is on medical image processing and the development of algorithms for real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging. He takes advantage of powerful ...
Quentin Fischer, PhD

Research Assistant Professor, VTC Research Institute

The adult brain is capable of considerable functional reorganization often manifest as long term modification of synaptic strength (strengthening as long term potentiation or LTP, ...
Christopher Franck, PhD

Research Assistant Professor, VTC Research Institute

Assistant Director, Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Statistical Analysis (LISA), Virginia Tech

My research interests lie in the fields of statistics and biostatistics. In collaborative research the role of the statistician begins as soon as a research ...
Ann Harvey, PhD

Research Scientist, VTC Research Institute

Director, Roanoke Brain Study

I am a research scientist at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. My duties include conducting research as well as coordinating the Roanoke Brain Study. ...
Tor Haugstad, MD, PhD

Visiting Research Professor

Dr. Tor Haugstad’s broader field of interest is in the basic, translational, and clinical fields of neurology and neurorehabilitation. His work in particular focuses on ...
Gro Haugstad, PhD

Visiting Research Professor

Dr. Gro Killi Haugstad’s research focuses on a clinical therapeutic approach to patients with psychosomatic disorders. More specifically, she focuses on therapy for patients with ...
Sebastian Hetu, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Dr. Sebastian Hetu is a postdoctoral associate in the Montague laboratory.
Kevin Hill, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Dr. Kevin Hill's research interests include studying how the brain makes decisions—specifically the role of individual differences in decision making—and how the brain deals with ...
Wataru Ito, PhD

Research Assistant Professor

Dr. Wataru Ito is a research assistant professor in the Morozov laboratory.
Hodja Kalikulov, PhD

Research Assistant Professor, VTC Research Institute

Synaptic plasticity is widely considered to be a cellular mechanism underlying learning and memory. Intracellular calcium signaling plays a key role in the regulation of ...
M. Amin Kayali, PhD

Research Assistant Professor, VTC Research Institute

I am a member of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory and Computational Psychiatry Unit. My research focuses on studying the structure and the dynamics of functional ...
Ken Kishida, PhD

Research Scientist

Human choice is constrained by such biological limitations as energetic constraints, sensory limitations, and valuation errors. Our species is not alone in dealing with this ...
Mikhail Koffarnus, PhD

Research Assistant Professor

My research focuses on understanding drug abuse and developing drug abuse treatments from behavioral economic and pharmacological perspectives. Decision-making processes are often disrupted in drug ...
Leslie LaConte, PhD

Assistant Professor, VTC Research Institute

Assistant Professor of Basic Sciences, VTC School of Medicine

Dr. Leslie LaConte's research interests lie in the field of structural biology. Working with Dr. Konark Mukherjee, she is currently investigating proteins found in the ...
Wynn Legon, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate
Jian Li, PhD

Research Assistant Professor

Jian Li is a research assistant professor in the Montague laboratory.
Terry Lohrenz, PhD

Research Assistant Professor, VTC Research Institute

Terry Lohrenz is a member of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory and Computational Psychiatry Unit. He was trained as a mathematician and spent time in the ...
Paul McDonald, PhD

Research Scientist

Paul McDonald is a research scientist in the Sheng laboratory.
Sarika Srivastava, PhD

Research Assistant Professor

Mitochondria are dynamic organelles central to energy production, metabolism, signaling and apoptosis. Proper mitochondrial function is critical for the maintenance of cellular energy and metabolic ...
Jianmin Su, PhD

Research Assistant Professor

I am working in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Fox exploring the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive synapse formation—synaptic targeting, synaptic differentiation and maturation. ...
Justin Tanner, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Dr. Justin Tanner's research interest focuses on using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) to visualize biological processes in their native forms rather than in a reconstituted ...
Milagros Tenga, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

My research focuses on the identification of molecular mechanisms that protect the neuromuscular junction, the synapse formed between motor neurons and muscle fibers, from aging ...
Rengasayee (Sai) Veeraraghavan, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

My primary research interest is the structural basis of cardiac conduction. Specifically, I am investigating the precise ultrastructural organization of ion channels and gap junctions ...
Dory Wallace

VTCRI Neuromotor Research Clinic Sr. Therapist

Dory Wallace is a senior therapist in the VTCRI Neuromotor Research Clinic.
Michael Wesley, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Dr. Wesley's research focuses on the neurofunctional correlates of complex decision-making and affective processing in drug abusing populations in the laboratories of Dr. Warren Bickel ...
A. George Wilson, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

My research focuses on understanding whether the motivating effects of a future opportunity to ingest nicotine, through puffs on a cigarette, are different in cigarette ...
Jianping Wu, PhD

Research Assistant Professor
Shu Zhang, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Dr. Zhang is a postdoctoral associate in Dr. McDonald's lab. Her research program is focusing on understanding rotavirus genome reassortment restriction by using a reverse ...
Lusha Zhu, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate