Adamson Lab Alumni

Researchers, Collaborators, Volunteers & Interns.

Research Staff

Haleh Karbasforoushan, PhD, MS received her Master’s in Computer Science and Brain Modeling at the University of Southern California. Followed by a few years at UCLA and Vanderbilt University using brain imaging methods to investigate morphological and functional brain changes in patients with schizophrenia and children with autism. Her PhD in neuroscience with a specialization in movement disorders at Northwestern University was funded by an NIH NRSA grant and used brain and spinal cord structural and functional MRI to investigate altered sensorimotor pathways involved in hand impairment post-stroke.

Kaitlin Chacon proudly served in the United States Air Force as an aircraft armament systems specialist on F-16 & F-35 airframes in OEF/OIF. Her career took her to many countries and regions leaving her with a vast looking glass into behavior, culture, and the human experience which sparked her interest enough to career transition from the military and pursue a path in psychology professionally. She earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Colorado Denver and is currently in her master’s program at the University of Kentucky in Counseling Psychology. 

Rita Hitching, MSc. BSc.  was involved across all areas of the Lab’s research. Rita completing a PhD in Psychiatry using virtual reality (VR) to deliver a mindfulness based treatment for insomnia to modulate  neuropsychiatric disorders. She's the Editor of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) Briefing Books initiative and completed 2 books on Suicide and Gun Violence; and working on a 3rd book. Rita works as a science writer and is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.

Kaitlly Zhu, BA.  worked as  the Lab's Clinical Research Coordinator. She graduated from UC Irvine with a BA in Psychology & Social Behavior, while volunteering at the Working Memory & Plasticity Lab focusesed on ADHD in children. She later interned at Coastline College's Acquired Brain Injury Program supporting adults with brain injury.  She hopes to enroll in a Ph.D program and conduct research on brain modulation techniques and its effects on memory and cognition to improve the lives of people affected by brain injury.

Dr. Mark Greenhalgh was a VA Polytrauma Postdoctoral Fellow at Adamson Lab and a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford School of Medicine. He completed his PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences and MPH in Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Greenhalgh passions healthcare equity including assistive technology including wheelchairs and prosthetics; in addition to injury epidemiology and rehabilitation, research methods, health equity, and quality of care delivery.

Ms. Srija Seenivasan graduated in 2019 with a BA in Plan II (Hons.) and a BSA in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. Srija began a journey of self discovery through work and travel, realizing her passion for science and research, in particular neuroscience and psychiatry. She wants to follow Dr. Adamson's footsteps and study neuroscience in graduate school. Her areas of interest include the application of neuromodulation and neurotechnologies,  women and those with intersectional identities. 

Dr. Angela Phillips was a postdoctoral fellow with Stanford Psychiatry and VA, Palo Alto. She earned her BA from the University of North Carolina in Clinical Psychology, a Master of Social Work in Mental Health Practice, and PhD from the University of Washington. Her clinical and research interests surround mental health treatments and outcomes, and neuromodulation techniques such as non-invasive brain stimulation for neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.  She continues her work as a private psychotherapist.

Ms. Harlene Grewal is an experienced neuroscience research professional with a passion for mindfulness and mission to serve well-being. Her future goals include pursuing a PhD in cognitive neuroscience so that she may one day inform policy on education and healthcare. Her mission is to quantify the well-being experience and help introduce a new standard of care for family-medicine. She believes the best part of the Adamson Lab are staff members and participants; they  inspire and move her towards action.

Volunteer Research Assistants

  • Trevor  E. Lee is volunteer research assistant at the Adamson Lab, first joining in the Summer of 2021. He is excited to explore traumatic brain injury, TMS, health equity, and rehabilitation, with a future goal of attending medical school. Trevor graduated from Brandeis University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 2019 and is a Research Health Science Technician at the VA Palo Alto Center of Innovation to Implementation (Ci2i)  conducting qualitative data  analysis.
  • Ines Luttenbacher, originally from Germany has had the opportunity to live abroad for several years. She is at the University of Amsterdam finishing her BS (Hons) in Psychology with a clinical focus. Ines has obtained an internship position in the research department of her university. After graduation, she will be pursuing her dream of becoming a psychotherapist incorporating clinical neuropsychology and research. She aspires to be accepted into Ph.D. or Psy.D program.
  • Oscar D. Mier served in the US Marine Corps and is a Fellow of the Warrior-Scholar Project that supports Veterans and active-duty service members to gain education. He's a first-generation student and earned his Bachelor of Science from the UC Riverside. He's a graduate student at USC in the Master of Science in Neuroimaging and Informatics program. He plans to study for a Master of Science in Symbolic Systems at Stanford University to study the intersection between minds and machines. 

Huy Thai is part of a study on traumatic brain injury as part of the lab. He worked at UC Davis on a gene-editing study of the Arabidopsis’s antiporter DNA gene using CRISPR/Cas9. From 2018-2019 he served in the US Army's Medical Corps providing health and medical training to U.S military personnel and residents in Central America. He's been the volenteer Director of the Miss Vietnam North California contest since 2016 and Golden Heart Charity Organization since 2012.

Megan Wang is currently completing in her Clinical Psychology PsyD program at the University of San Francisco. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Clinical Psychology with honors. Megan's research interests focus on veterans coping with mental illnesses and stressors, as well as underserved populations who face systemic and identity-related barriers to care. 

Julian Martinez, originally from Mexico City and moved to the United States to pursue higher education. He graduated from UC Santa Clara with a B.A. in Intensive Psychology. During which he worked at the developmental lab of Professor Maureen Callanan. Julian joined the Adamson Lab in February of 2020 as a Research Assistant. He will be attending Palo Alto University to pursue his PhD. in Clinical Psychology in 2021. He's interested in neuropsychology and non-invasive procedures to treat psychiatric conditions.

Henry Ogdent More is graduate from the University of Southern California with degrees in Economics and Neuroscience. He joined the Lab with the goal of expanding his expertise in the application of artificial intelligence (AI), data science, and machine and deep (ML/DL) to solve complex neuroscience problems and develop neurotherapies. Henry wants to pursue a graduate degree in AI, computer science or computational neuroscience. 

Sohrab Sami role in the Adamson Lab includes coordinating a study aimed at understanding the complex interplay between neurological and neuropsychological effects of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Sohrab completed his B.S in Psychology with a clinical focus and wants to get into a PhD program in clinical psychology. He's interested in studying the neuroplasticity of the brain and its role in the therapy setting and rehabilitation. 

Summer Interns

Summer 2021

Samreena Siddiqui  class of 2022 at Foothill High School, is intrigued by all things neuroscience. Her passion is is the interplay between cognition and behavior. Her future goal is to work in clinical neuroscience research. Samreena hopes to further investigate the workings of the brain and its connection to human physiology. Outside of academics, she is an avid tennis and guitar player!

Wondering what kind of volunteers the Adamson Lab is interested in hearing from? Read the background and interests of prior Summer interns and what motivated them to apply to the program

Ikshu Pandey is a freshman intending to double major in Neuroscience and Materials Science & Engineering on the pre-med track at Johns Hopkins University. Outside of the classroom, she loves conducting biomedical research and can likely be found either in the lab, or excitedly talking about her work to her friends. In her free time, she loves surfing, learning how to play the guitar, and watching basketball!

Summer 2020

We want to hear from you! The world needs more scientists to solve complex problems. We are committed to supporting the next generation of researchers. Contact us and tell us about your passion for science. We'd love to have you join the Adamson Lab in the summer of 2022.  

Anthony Liu was a rising senior at Saratoga High School. He spent over 200 hours volunteering at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Primarily being mentored by Joshua Abella in the Cardiology Department and Russell Sanchez in the Pathology Department. Last summer, Anthony workinged with Dr. Coetzee on a study exploring the effect of TMS on executive function using WebNeuro.

Summer 2019

Nathan Palamuttam was one of the interns last summer. He was a rising junior attending Bellarmine College Preparatory. He became a volunteer as he was interested in our virtual reality (VR) study, which found a correlation between VR and reduced heart rate and anxiety. Last summer, he worked with Dr. Greenlaugh to research the effects of virtual reality on health and well being!

Elika Eshghi was studying Neuroscience and on the pre-med track at Boston College. She joined the lab as a summer research intern in June 2019 as she was interested in studying the different brain stimulation treatments and therapies for polytrauma and brain injury. She worked on a literature review paper investigating virtual reality rehabilitation in patients with polytrauma.

Hannah Del Barrio was a junior at James Logan High School when she joined the lab in February 2021. Hannah was excited to collaborate with fellow interns and colleagues, and learn as much as possible. She is fascinated by medical neuroscience and wanted to get involved in our research on COVID-19's and its impact on mental health and the development of neurodegenerative diseases.