Dr. Peter Bayley's Lab
Meet the team
Director of Research, War Related Illness and Injury Study Center, Clinical Associate Professor (Affiliated) Stanford School of Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Dr. Bayley serves as a neuroscientist at the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center. He has a research background in basic neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience and his research interests focus on memory disorders. He performed graduate research at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) where he studied memory disorders in patients with various forms of dementia. He completed his postdoctoral training at UCSD in the study of learning and memory in patients with brain lesions using brain imaging and neuropsychological techniques.
His current research interests include the treatment of long-term difficult to treat conditions such as pain, posttraumatic stress disorder, Gulf War Illness, and Alzheimer’s disease. Participants in his studies often have more than one condition such as chronic pain and Alzheimer’s disease. He studies the effect of complementary and integrative health techniques including yoga, meditation and mindfulness using objective measures including brain imaging and cognitive testing. He also has an interest in early detection of dementia and is a member of the Memory Screening Advisory Board for the Alzheimer's Foundation of America.
Ms. Louise Mahoney founded the WRIISC Yoga Wellness program at the VA in Palo Alto. She is a co-investigator on a VA-DoD funded study to explore yoga and a group education program as treatment for chronic pain in Veterans from Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield (ODS/S) and has a deep interest in contributing towards the evidence base for yoga as treatment in medical settings.
Ms. Mahoney has a MS degree in molecular and developmental genetics, is a registered yoga instructor, and a Level II iRest teacher in training. Among other duties, she directs the WRIISC Yoga Wellness program that provides yoga classes to Veterans at the Palo Alto VA and its associated Community Clinics collaborating with the VA Palo Alto Clinical Video Telehealth program.
Dr. Allende earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium. During his doctoral studies, his research efforts were focused on stress responsivity and the impact of mind-body practices on chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. He also developed competency in using the R programming language to clean and structure large datasets, develop dashboards, and conduct a variety of analyses, such as linear mixed models, survival models, and mixture models.
Jasmin Francisco, B.S.
Jasmin Francisco, is a Clinical Research Coordinator, at the Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research, working on a study that explores the benefits of transcendental meditation on veterans with PTSD. Learn more.
Jasmin graduated with a B.S. in Physiology and Exercise Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. She hopes to pursue a PhD in Exercise Physiology with an emphasis on Technology-Based Interventions for the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Disease.
Heidi Mahoney Ram, C-IAYT, E-RYT, MPA
Heidi is a certified yoga therapist, instructor and irest level 1 teacher. She joined the Bayley Lab in 2021 as a yoga teacher and research assistant. As a lifelong student of yoga, her interests lie in using yoga tools to support people in each stage of life to live with greater ease, integrity, and harmony in mind and body.
Heidi is a mom of two, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and also holds a Master's of Public Administration and B.S. in Anthropology and Marketing.
Korrine Fitz, B.A., M.A.
Korrine Fitz is a certified yoga instructor and fitness coach. She joined the Bayley Lab in 2021 as a yoga teacher and research assistant, after many years of teaching yoga to veterans through the V.A.
As a lifelong student of dance, fitness and yoga, Korrine’s focus is on personal growth and wellness, with special attention to trauma and stress-related conditions.
Korrine is an avid traveler, speaks French and Hebrew, and holds an M.A. in International Policy Studies and B.A. in French and Political Science.
Audrey Keaney, M.A.
Audrey is a yoga teacher and psychotherapist. She is currently working towards her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She has been teaching yoga and meditation for the past 6 years. She joined the Bayley lab in 2021 as a yoga teacher and research assistant supporting research exploring the benefits of yoga for chronic pain, Alzheimer’s disease, and Lyme disease. Audrey is passionate about movement and the mind/body connection. In her free time, she loves to swim in the ocean, play piano and guitar, practice yoga, and hike.
Audrey holds an M.A. in Clinical Psychology and B.A. in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience.
Caro Fenno, E-RYT, TCTSY-F
Caro joined the Bayley Lab in 2019 as the coordinator of the WRIISC Yoga and Meditation program through the Palo Alto VA. She is an experienced yoga and dance instructor and is a certified Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator. Caro is passionate about healing through movement, awareness, and agency.
Caro holds a BA in International Studies from Duke University.
Kelly Parker-Bridges E-RYT
Kelly is a San Francisco Bay Area yoga teacher and retired police officer. After experiencing the benefits of yoga in her own life, her passion became teaching yoga and meditation to veterans and first responders. She joined the Bayley Lab in 2021 as a research assistant and yoga teacher.
Kelly is also an iRest Level 1 teacher and is working toward her yoga therapist certification at the Stress Management Center of Marin.
Annie Lau, B.A.
Annie Lau is a Clinical Research Assistant at the Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research. She joined the Bayley Lab in 2023 as a research assistant and Present-Centered Therapy (PCT) Study Therapist. Annie is interested in further exploring the benefits of mind-body connection on mental health and trauma recovery.
Annie holds a B.A. in Psychology from San Jose State University.
Meditation & PTSD
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that develops as a result of exposure to a traumatic event and is characterized by intense physiological and psychological reactivity to stimuli associated with that trauma. Recent reports have also highlighted that PTSD is associated with suicidality - a fact that may explain the alarming rise of suicidal behavior amongst returning Veterans. Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) s a meditation technique that involves a sequence of breathing exercises and has shown promise in treating PTSD.
Gulf War Illness
Many military personnel who participated in the Gulf War in 1990-1991 reported negative health consequences subsequent to their deployment, the most prevalent involving a triad of symptoms that include fatigue, pain, and cognitive disturbances, commonly referred to as "Gulf War Illness" (GWI). No clear, unifying patho-physiological disease process or effective treatment has yet been identified for GWI. Results from a diverse spectrum of research studies support the view that veterans with GWI are medically ill, but that the physiological abnormalities that contribute to their illness are not currently well understood nor sufficiently treated by conventional medicine.