School of Medicine
Showing 1-10 of 14 Results
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Daniel A. Abrams
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAutism spectrum disorders (ASD) are among the most pervasive neurodevelopmental disorders and are characterized by significant deficits in social communication. A common observation in children with ASD is that affected individuals often “tune out” from social interactions, which likely impacts the development of social, communication, and language skills. My primary research goals are to understand why children with ASD often tune out from the social world and how this impacts social skill and brain development, and to identify remediation strategies that motivate children with ASD to engage in social interactions. The theoretical framework that guides my work is that social impairments in ASD stem from a primary deficit in identifying social stimuli, such as human voices and faces, as rewarding and salient stimuli, thereby precluding children with ASD from engaging with these stimuli.
My program of research has provided important information regarding the brain circuits underlying social deficits in ASD. Importantly, these findings have consistently implicated key structures of the brain’s reward and salience processing systems, and support the hypothesis that impaired reward attribution to social stimuli is a critical aspect of social difficulties in ASD.
My lab is currently conducting three research studies:
Speaker-Listener Coupling and Brain Dynamics During Naturalistic Verbal Communication in Children with Autism
We have a new study investigating how the brain processes and understands speech in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder as well as typically developing children. We are interested in understanding speech comprehension in children through anticipating incoming speech and accumulating speech information over a period of time.
Speaker-Listener Coupling and Brain Dynamics During Naturalistic Verbal Communication in Alzheimer’s Disease
In collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, our new study is exploring how the brain enables us to understand speech, with a focus on both healthy older adults and adults with Alzheimer’s Disease. We also aim to understand how the brain measures seen while we listen and understand a story are linked to language skills in these individuals.
Pivotal Response Treatment for Adolescents with High Functioning Autism Intervention Study
This is a 9-week intervention focusing on key social skills for autistic adolescents, while exploring brain plasticity using fMRI imaging. Your child will receive 1:1 sessions with our clinician, with parent training in clinic. Topics include: Greetings, Departures, Question Asking, Talking the Right Amount, Empathy, Sarcasm, and Eating and Drinking. We also coordinate with the school for additional support and opportunities to practice the targeted social skills in a club of interest. -
Stephanie Balters
Instructor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences
BioDr. Stephanie Balters is a neuroscientist, educator, and innovator dedicated to advancing team flourishing and excellence. As Director of the Empowerment Neuroscience Lab in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, she employs advanced neuroimaging and computational methods to elucidate the neural and inter-brain signatures of high-impact, purpose-aligned teams. Her research identifies barriers to collaboration and develops targeted interventions to enhance connection, communication, and collective success. Beyond academia, Dr. Balters serves as a Human Factors Specialist at NATO, translating neuroscience into actionable strategies that help leaders cultivate resilient, high-performing teams. She also leads team innovation workshops at Stanford University, fostering authenticity, trust, and alignment to spark transformative ideas in science and business. With a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Design, Dr. Balters previously held research roles at Stanford’s Center for Design Research and Computer Science Department before joining the School of Medicine.
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Jennifer L. Bruno
Instructor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Bruno is a translational researcher at the interface of developmental cognitive neuropsychology and neurobiology. An overarching goal of her work is to understand developmental windows of vulnerability—periods of risk for falling off the trajectory of typical brain development. Her research utilizes genetics, brain imaging, and deep behavioral phenotyping to bridge computational science with clinical knowledge, translating cutting-edge science to solve problems of great clinical need.
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Lu Chen
Professor of Neurosurgery and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWhat distinguishes us humans from other animals is our ability to undergo complex behavior. The synapses are the structural connection between neurons that mediates the communication between neurons, which underlies our various cognitive function. My research program aims to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie synapse function during behavior in the developing and mature brain, and how synapse function is altered during mental retardation.
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Tamar Green
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences) and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Brain Imaging, Development, and Genetic (BRIDGE) Lab focuses on disorders associated with child development, such as attention deficits, hyperactivity, and autism spectrum disorders. we aim to uncover biological principles of how genetic variation and its associated downstream pathways affect children's neurodevelopmental disorders.
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David S. Hong
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Interdisciplinary Brain Science Research)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Hong is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and clinician-scientist. His responsibilities span clinical care, teaching/mentorship, and research, with a unifying theme of advancing a developmental cognitive framework as applied to psychiatric conditions. Using this core premise, he work encompasses multiple domains: specialized clinical care, fellowship training, research mentorship, and elaborating the role of sex-specific determinants of development, one of the greatest contributors to individual developmental variation.
His lab investigates genetic and hormonal influences underlying sex differences in child psychiatric conditions. Sex has emerged as a critical variable driving differences in the phenomenology, course, and treatment of many mental health disorders. Unfortunately, an understanding of the biological mechanisms driving these effects are limited. By applying innovative neuroimaging and multiomic approaches, Dr. Hong seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the connection between sex-specific effects and complex psychiatric diseases. To do so, research in the Hong Lab focuses on the role of genes on the X and Y chromosomes, as well as circulating sex hormones on brain development, cognition, and behavior. The lab broadly aims to elucidate the changing nature of these mechanisms across various stages of development.
Another area of focus is the implementation of clinical informatics in child psychiatry and the development of digital mental health tools. As co-Director of the Mental Health Technology and Innovation Hub, Dr. Hong is helping to develop clinical and research infrastructure within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences to advance development of mobile mental health resources that will improve efficacy and access to mental health care. -
Hadi Hosseini
Associate Professor (Research) of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Interdisciplinary Brain Science Research)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab’s research portfolio crosses multiple disciplines including computational neuropsychiatry, cognitive neuroscience, multimodal neuroimaging and neurocognitive rehabilitation. Our computational neuropsychiatry research mainly involves investigating alterations in the organization of connectome in various neurodevelopmental and neurocognitive disorders using state of the art neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, sMRI, DWI, functional NIRS) combined with novel computational methods (graph theoretical and multivariate pattern analyses).
The ultimate goal of our research is to translate the findings from computational neuropsychiatry research toward developing personalized interventions. We have been developing personalized interventions that integrate computerized cognitive rehabilitation, real-time functional brain imaging and neurofeedback, as well as virtual reality (VR) tailored toward targeted rehabilitation of the affected brain networks in patients with neurocognitive disorders.
