My neuroscience research has focused on how we experience danger and safety, and how those experiences shape how we see the world – our behavior, expectations, and attitudes about ourselves and others. My research measured neuroplasticity in the amygdala and other brain areas in the course of learning about and experiencing danger and risk, as well as safety and security.
I received a PhD in Neuroscience in the laboratory of Joseph LeDoux at New York University, and completed my post-doctoral training with Eric Kandel at Columbia University. I’m also happy to acknowledge the late Stanley Schachter, who invited me into his graduate courses while I earned a BA in Psychology at Columbia University.
I have been on the research faculties of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, and have worked extensively as a consulting scientist at other universities, biotech and pharma companies, research foundations, and for the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research.
My research has involved measurement and analysis of neural processing, behavior, molecular processing, physiology, and state/trait characteristics. I have used techniques such as electrophysiology, MRI and functional brain imaging (fMRI), biochemical and genetic assays, behavioral analysis, skin conductance, pupillometry, heart rate variability and psychometrics. This work has been published in leading scientific journals, including Nature, Cell, Neuron, and The Journal of Neuroscience, and has been covered in news articles in Science, The New York Times and Scientific American.
Recent Books by my research co-authors that include discussion of our work:
