STORY COLLIDER PRESENTS: STORIES of brain and beyond
The Story Collider is teaming up again with the The Friedman Brain Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine to bring you five true, personal stories from folks at all career stages about their journey through the brain… and beyond!
Hosted by Paula Croxson, with Aya Osman and Abha Rajbhandari.
Produced by Latasha Wright and Paula Croxson.
Doors at 6:30pm, show at 7:00pm.
Stories by:
Mackenzie Brown grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina and graduated with a Masters of Public Health from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. Her graduate research focused on understanding how depressive symptoms impact disease management strategies in people with hypertension in the rural South. After a year of collecting data across the country as a Research Fellow with Stanford University, she moved to New York and worked as a Research Coordinator conducting behavioral interventions for individuals with rheumatic diseases. Now at DAC, she is interested in pursuing a PhD to explore how early birth trauma and premature birth can impact mental health across the lifespan.
After graduating in 2016, Alessandra Cervera delved into neuroscience as the Lead Research Coordinator for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study under Dr. BJ Casey at Yale University. Collecting fMRI data for this study shifted Alessandra’s interests toward the biological origins of brain ailments, and sparked the desire to pursue a career in medicine as a physician. Since then, she has completed the Columbia University Post-baccalaureate Pre-medical Program, worked as the Clinical Coordinator for the Neuropathology Brain Bank (NPBB) at Mount Sinai, and is now navigating the current medical school application cycle. When not in the NPBB or conducting research in Dr. John Crary’s lab, Alessandra enjoys cycling throughout the city she calls home, learning about the indigenous healing practices of her Mexican ancestors, and finding opportunities to share joy with those she encounters.
Davide Folloni is a passionate foodie who decided, early on in his studies, to investigate why and how his brain would constantly push him to go foraging for new restaurants to taste delicious food. To answer this question, he started training as clinical psychologist, he spent a few years working in healthcare and he then started a PhD in Neuroscience. During his PhD he compared the anatomy and connectivity of limbic and prefrontal cortex, he developed novel non-invasive protocols of transcranial focused ultrasound and used these protocols to causally investigate the contribution of areas supporting contingent learning and value-guided behaviors. He is now a Post-Doctoral research fellow in the Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York where he aims to describe the neural mechanisms driving oscillations in affective states. He is also actively involved in public outreach and in organizing programs aimed to promote diversity in academia. Despite all these years in in academia, his passion for food foraging has not decreased and, if anything, it has only been made worse by his current training for the New York marathon.
Hannah (Yu) Hao is a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Daniela Schiller and Dr. Jennifer Foss-Feig. Her research focuses on understanding the neural substrates involved in dynamic social interaction and social decision making in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, as well as exploring the impact of socio-demographic factors in this context. Hannah received her PhD in Human Behavior and Design from Cornell University.
Pamela Toh is a first year graduate student in the lab of Dr. Abha Rajbhandari. Pamela graduated from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa in 2021 with Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry and Psychology, and Minors in Mathematics and Microbiology. After undergrad, Pamela completed a summer neuroscience research internship at the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida. Pamela subsequently joined the Pacific Biosciences Research Center in Honolulu as a Research Technician until moving to NYC to join the Mount Sinai community in 2023. Pamela enjoys cozy video games, reading, yoga, and powerlifting.