Alumni

Xiaozhen You, PhD, (2014-22) Senior Quantitative Modeler at Fannie Mae

Emily Matuska, (2019-22) Project Manager at the American College of Cardiology

Manu Krishnamurthy, (2020-22) Consultant at Deloitte

Stephanie Merwin, PhD, (2019-20) Children's National Hospital 

Alyssa Ailion, PhD, (2019-20) Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School 

Christy Casnar, PhD, (2019-20) Medical College of Wisconsin 

Maria Z. Chroneos, (2018-20) University of Pittsburgh; MD/PhD program 

Eleanor J. Fanto, (2017-20) University of Pennsylvania ABSN-MSN (PNP)

Adrian Bumbut (MBA), (2014-18) Finance position at CNMC

Adrian served as a Clinical Research Coordinator from 2014 to 2018. During his time with our lab, Adrian co-authored 7 manuscripts and presented multiple abstracts at the annual American Epilepsy Society conference. In 2017, Adrian and the research team led by Dr. John Schreiber won the Epilepsy Foundation’s SUDEP Institute Challenge award in the amount of $20,000 for the work progress on developing predictive biomarkers of epilepsy seizures. During the same year, Adrian coordinated the first and the largest SCN8A Epilepsy Research Clinic along with study PI, Dr. John Schreiber, resulting in an increased knowledge of SCN8A –related disorders and subsequent educational opportunities for clinicians focused on utilization of preferred anti-seizure medication.

Emanuel Boutzoukas, (2016-18) University of Florida (Gainesville); PhD in Clinical Psychology 

Emanuel ‘Manoli’ Boutzoukas was a POLER research assistant from 2016-2018. During that time he assisted with ongoing studies and managed clinical data for the Division of Clinical Neuropsychology and the Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery. He went on to graduate school in clinical psychology at the University of Florida with a focus in Neuropsychology. In January 2020, his research from RA-ship culminated in publishing his first first-author paper titled “Cortical Thickness in childhood left focal epilepsy: Thinning beyond the seizure focus” with Dr. Berl’s guidance. Although his graduate school research is focused on neuromodulation techniques to mitigate cognitive aging, Emanuel has a soft spot in his heart for pediatric populations and hopes to continue his collaboration with the POLER lab as his career progresses.

Ashley Zachery, (2015-17)  University of Utah; MD/PhD program 

Joy Facella-Ervolini, (2014-16) MGH Institute of Health Professions

Joy completed her doctorate in occupational therapy at the MGH Institute of Health Professions this May. During her schooling, she worked as a teaching assistant, research assistant, and completed clinical rotations in various settings, including inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient hand therapy. Her doctoral research focused on the effects of home health occupational therapy on mood and activity participation in adults with low vision. Joy is very much looking forward to joining the field as an OT!

Eric Emery, (2013-15) West Virginia University; MD program  

Virginia Terwilliger Gallagher, (2013-15) Northwestern University; PhD in Clinical Psychology

Virginia  was a POLER research assistant from 2013-2015. She went on to graduate school in clinical psychology (neuropsychology emphasis) at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine and is completing her clinical psychology internship at University of Illinois at Chicago. Virginia was an avid lunch enthusiast who could be found first in line for Au Bon Pain lunches at monthly epilepsy rounds and over-spending at the NIH cafeteria. 

Sharon Shih, (2012-2015) Georgia State University; PhD in Clinical Psychology 

Jane Meyerson, (2012-13) Employed GGO school service DC; NYU development

Lauren Zimmaro, (2010-13) University of Louisville; PhD in Clinical Psychology 

Evelyn Fisher,  (2010-11) Ohio State University; PhD in Clinical Psychology

Evelyn  was a research assistant in the POLER lab from 2010-2012. She is presently a post-doctoral fellow in pediatric neuropsychology at University of New Mexico. She completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in neuropsychology at Georgia State University. She completed her internship at Kennedy Krieger Institute/Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in the neuropsychology and deaf/hard of hearing track. Her research and clinical interests involve maximizing language and communication outcomes among children with medical conditions and comorbid developmental disabilities. In her free time, she enjoys entertaining her cat and being the least coordinated mountain biker in Albuquerque.

Alexander Dick, (2017-19) George Washington University; MD

Charles Lynch, Weill Cornell Medicine, PhD

I am in the second year of a postdoc in the psychiatry department at Weill Cornell Medicine in NYC. Working on things related to individualized brain network mapping using resting state fmri, and using those kinds of approaches to inform stimulation site selection in brain stimulation therapies for medication resistant depression.

Kathleen Sullivan, University of Maryland (College Park); PhD in School Psychology

Mara Steinberg Lowe, (2009-10) PhD in Communicative Sciences and Disorders, faculty at CUNY Queens College

I worked in the POLER lab from 2009-2010 as a grad student (from University of Maryland, College Park). I reanalyzed narrative data from your POLER project to look at fluency patterns in stories produced by children with and without epilepsy. We also tried to do some correlations with fMRI data. Here's my quick update - I graduated from NYU this month with my PhD in Communicative Sciences and Disorders and am starting a faculty position in the Linguistics and Communication Disorders department at CUNY Queens College this fall. 

Krista Engle, (2013-15) University of Colorado; PhD in Psychology

Helen Burton, PhD in Psychology

Alexander Zeitchik, PhD in Psychology

Elizabeth S. Duke, (2009-11) University of Maryland (Baltimore); MD, Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard, Pediatrics and Child Neurology

Kaitlyn Blackstone, (2008-10) University of California San Diego; PhD in Psychology

Jessie Mayo, (2006-08) University of Connecticut; PhD in Psychology, Yale Child Development Fellow

Lisa R. Rosenberger, (2005-08) Johns Hopkins; MPH

Erin N. Moore, (2003-05) University of California San Diego; PhD in Psychology, faculty at UCSD; Co-founder at Equip

John Siedel, Iowa University; JD

Bonnie Sachs, University of Florida (Gainsville); PhD in Psychology, faculty MCV, Wake Forest University

Jami Johnston, George Washington University, MPH

Suzanne Riegel Murphy, NIH, MPH

Lyn M. Balsamo, (2001-2006) American University; PhD in Psychology; Faculty at Yale 

Christine Kennedy, (2002-2004) George Washington University; MPH

Suzanne Braniecki, (1998 - 2001) Drexel University; PhD in Psychology 

Sharam Fazilat, (1998- 2007) University of Maryland (Baltimore); DDS

Shahin Fazilat, (1995-2002) Howard University; MD