My neuroscience research has been published in leading peer-reviewed 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. My work 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 experiencing danger and risk, as well as safety and security.
This work relates to every-day experiences of anxiety, safety, pleasure seeking, risk taking and risk aversion, how these experiences can drive formation of mental, emotional, and behavioral problems, and how more experience (including therapy) can resolve these problems.
I received a PhD in Neuroscience in the laboratory of Joseph LeDoux, and completed my post-doctoral training with Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel. I’m also happy to acknowledge the late Stanley Schachter, who generously 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.
Books by my research co-authors that include discussion of our work:
