Profiles of Selected Alumni
Mount Sinai is proud to feature some of our highly successful graduates from the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Under the mentorship of Mount Sinai’s accomplished and dedicated faculty thesis advisors, our students are prepared for a variety of careers, including academia, biotechnology, education, scientific writing and consulting, engineering, health care administration, and others.
Stephen D. Ginsberg, PhD 1993 (Advisor: John H. Morrison, PhD)
Thesis title: "Quantitative neurochemical analysis of the macaque hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus"
Current position: Associate Professor, Departments of Psychiatry, Physiology, Neuroscience, New York University
Cynthia Shannon Weickert, PhD 1995 (Advisor: Maryann Blum)
Thesis title: "Molecular studies of postnatal striatal development"
Current position: Team Leader, NeuRA; Professor, SUNY Upstate
Angela Ho, PhD 1998 (Advisor: Maryann Blum)
Thesis title: "Characterization of the cytokine-neurotrophic cascade associated with neurotoxin-induced plasticity of dopaminergic neurons in young and middle-aged mice"
Current position: Neuroscience Program Director, CEBINA, Vienna, AustriaAssociate Professor, Department of Biology, Boston University
Vanja Nagy, PhD 2006 (Advisor: George W. Huntley, PhD)
Thesis title: "Novel role and regulation of the matrix metalloprotease family during long-lasting hippocampal synpatic and behavioral plasticity"
Current position: Team Scientific Leader, Molecular Neurobiology Group, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute, Vienna, Austria
Bonnie Fletcher, PhD 2007 (Advisor: Peter Rapp, PhD)
Thesis title: "Arc expression in models of hippocampal dysfunction"
Current position: Associate, Cooley LLP, Intellectual Property Law firm
Jul Lea Shamy, PhD 2007 (Advisor: Peter Rapp, PhD)
Thesis title: "Aging and lesion-induced changes of frontotemporal integrity in the macaque monkey"
Current position: Senior medical writer, Regeneron
Tao Ma, PhD 2008 (Advisor: Robert Blitzer, PhD)
Thesis title: "Interactions between the MAP kinase and mTOR pathways in protein synthesis-dependent LTP"
Current position: Associate Professor, Wake Forrest School of Medicine
Pamela Kennedy, PhD 2009 (Advisor: Matthew Shapiro, PhD)
Thesis title: "Linking motivation and memory: hippocampal contributions to associative memory retrieval based on internal state"
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, UCLA
David Carpenter, PhD 2009 (Advisor: Cheuk Tang, PhD)
Thesis title: "Novel medical image processing techniques for the detection of abnormalities of functional and structural connectivity in the brain"
Current position: Director R & D Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare
Blake Gurfein, PhD 2009 (Advisor: Gareth John, PhD)
Thesis title: "Interleukin-11 regulates autoimmune demyelination"
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, UCSF, Chief Scientific Officer, Tivic Health
Allyson Friedman, PhD 2010 (Advisor: Klaude Weiss, PhD)
Thesis title: "Neural basis of repetition priming and switch cost in a multi-tasking network"
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Hunter College
Ioana Carcea, PhD 2010 (Advisor: Deanna L. Benson, PhD)
Thesis title: "Molecular mechanisms of cortical axon guidance"
Current position: Assistant Professor, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Ian S. Maze, PhD 2010 (Advisor: Eric Nestler, MD, PhD)
Thesis title: "Histone methylation-dependent transcriptional regulation of cocaine-induced behavioral and structural plasticity"
Current position: Professor and HHMI Investigator, Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Patrick Coskren, PhD 2011 (Advisor: Patrick Hof, MD)
Thesis title: "Construction and analysis of morphologically detailed neuron models to study the physiological implications of age-related morphological changes in pyramidal cells in the dorsolateral PFC of rhesus monkeys"
Current position: Software Engineer, Google Inc.
Yanna Zorina, PhD 2011 (Advisor: Ravi Iyengar, PhD)
Thesis title: "Integration of cannabinoid 1 receptor and interleukin-6 receptor signaling pathways in neuronal differentiation and regeneration"
Current position: Scientist, Acorda Therapeutics, Inc.
John Steele, PhD 2011 (Advisor: Sam Gandy, MD, PhD)
Thesis title: "Molecular mechanisms of Alzheimer's cerebral amyloidosis: a preclinical study of latrepirdine as a prospective Alzheiner's therapeutic"
Current position: Principal Scientist, Takada
Erik Bloss, PhD 2011 (Advisor: John H. Morrison, PhD)
Thesis title: "Structural and molecular plasticity in the aging prefrontal cortex"
Current position: Assistant Professor, The Jackson Laboratory
Xiaosi Gu, PhD 2011 (Advisors: Jin Fan, PhD and Patrick Hof, MD)
Thesis title: "A role of the insular cortex in emotional awareness"
Current position: Associate Professor, Dept of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Jennifer DiNieri, PhD 2011 (Advisor: Yasmin Hurd, PhD)
Thesis title: "Prenatal cannabis exposure and neuropsychiatric outcome"
Current position: Associate Medical Writer, Janssen Pharmaceutical
Rhonda Charles, PhD 2013 (Advisor: Joseph Buxbaum, PhD)
Current Position: Vice-President, Chameleon Communications
Bryan Sepulveda, PhD 2013 (Advisor: Deanna Benson, PhD)
Current Position: Medical Affairs, Neurogene Inc
Jessica Walsh, PhD 2013 (Advisor: Ming-Hu Han, PhD)
Thesis title: "Molecular and circuit mechanisms underlying behavioral responses to social defeat stress"
Current position: Assistant Professor, UNC
Dan Christoffel, PhD 2014 (Advisor: Dr. Scott Russo)
Current position: Assistant Professor, UNC
Claudia Vargas, PhD 2014 (Advisor: Yasmin Hurd, PhD)
Current Position, Assistant Professor, Georgia State Univ
Sarah Stern, PhD 2014 (Advisor: Cristina Alberini, PhD)
Current Position: Group Leader, Max Planck Inst. Florida
Lauren Friedman, PhD 2014 (Co-Advisors: Deanna L. Benson, PhD and Zhenyu Yue, PhD)
Thesis title: "Molecular mechanisms underlying striatal circuitry in development and degeneration"
Current position: Scientific Program Officer, NINDS
Katherine Collins, PhD 2014 (Advisor: Daniela Schiller, PhD)
Thesis title: "Taking Action in the Face of Fear: The Neural Substrates of Active Avoidance Learning in Humans”
Current position: Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS); Research Scientist, Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research
Nikos Tzavares, PhD 2014 (Advisor: Robert Blitzer, PhD)
Thesis title: "The role of Wnt in controlling mTOR in synaptic plasticity"
Current position: Manager, Imaging Core Facility, Mount Sinai
Sam Golden, PhD 2014 (Advisor: Scott Russo, PhD)
Thesis title: "The role of the nucleus accumbens in stress and aggression-related disorders"
Current position: Assistant Professor, Dept of Biological Structure, University of Washington
HaoSheng Sun, PhD 2015 (Advisor: Eric Nestler, MD, PhD)
Thesis title: "Epigenetic mechanisms of depression and drug addiction: essential role of ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers"
Current position: Assistant Professor, Univ of Alabama
Mitchell Wold, PhD 2016 (Advisor: Zhenyu Yu, PhD)
Current Position: Software Engineer, Epion Health, Inc.
Cheng Jiang, PhD 2016 (Advisor: Stephen Salton, MD, PhD)
Thesis title: "The Roles of VGF in Depression and in Response to Antidepressant Treatment”
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University
John Mariani, PhD 2016 (Advisor: Gareth John, PhD)
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Univ of Rochester
Hannah Cates, PhD 2016 (Advisor: Eric Nestler, MD, PhD)
Thesis title: "A novel role for E2F3 in cocaine action: splicing and transcriptional mechanisms"
Current position: Assistant Professor. Adelphi University
Barbara Juarez, PhD 2016 (Advisor: Ming-Hu Han, PhD)
Thesis title: "The role of midbrain dopamine neurons in mediating individual alcohol drinking behaviors"
Current position: Assistant Prof, University of Maryland-Baltimore
Bridget Matikainen-Ankeny, PhD 2017 (Advisor: Deanna Benson, PhD)
Thesis title: "The effect of a Parkinson's-linked mutation on striatal circuit development"
Current position: Assistant Prof, Rutgers University
Madeline Pfau, PhD 2017 (Advisor: Scott Russo, PhD)
Thesis title: " Inhibitory synaptic control of social behavior”
Current position: Senior Manager, Scientific Publications, AbbVie
Ben Glicksberg, PhD 2017 (Advisor: Joel Dudley, PhD)
Current Position: Vice President, Data Science and Machine Learning, Character Biosciences
Gabor Egervari, PhD 2017 (Advisor: Yasmin Hurd, PhD)
Current Position: Postdoc, UPenn
Benjamin Chadwick, PhD 2017 (Advisor: Yasmin Hurd, PhD)
Current Position: Freelance Consultant
Stacy M. Ku, PhD 2017 (Advisor: Ming-Hu Han, PhD)
Thesis title: "Microcircuit dysfunction of midbrain neurotransmission in social stress and
depression”
Current position: Biotechnology Equity Research Analyst, TD Cowen, Inc
Erin K. Flaherty, PhD 2018 (Advisor: Kristen Brennand, PhD)
Thesis title: "Aberrant NRXN1a splicing arising from 2-16.3 heterozygous dewletions impacts neuronal function”
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Maniatis Lab, Zuckerman Institute, Columbia University
Meghan Flanigan, PhD 2018 (Advisor: Scott Russo, PhD)
Thesis title: "Orexin signaling in GABAergic lateral habenula neurons modulates aggressive behavior”
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Kash Lab, UNC
Benjamin Ely, PhD 2019 (Advisor: Emily Stern, PhD)
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Albert Einstein
Ashley Lepack, PhD 2019 (Advisor: Ian Maze, PhD)
Current Position: Staff scientist, BlueRock Therapeutics
Carla Golden, PhD 2019 (Advisor: Joseph Buxbaum, PhD)
Current Position: Postdoc, NYU
Ana Badimon, PhD 2019 (Advisor: Anne Schaefer, MD, PhD)
Current Position: Postdoc, The Rockefeller Univ
Kamilah Castro, PhD 2019 (Advisor: Patrizia Casaccia, MD, PhD)
Current Position: Global Medical Information, Daiichi Sankyo, Inc
Masato Sadahiro, PhD 2019 (Advisor: Hiro Morishita, MD, PhD)
Current Position: Postdoc Univ of CA Berkeley
Josefa Sullivan, PhD 2019 (Advisor: Anne Schafer, MD, PhD)
Current Position: Senior Director, MeiraGTx
Casey Lardner, PhD 2020 (Advisor: Eric Nestler, MD, PhD)
Current Position: Lab and Operations Manager, Genspace NYC
Lucy Bicks, PhD 2020 (Advisors: Hiro Morishita, MD, PhD and Schahram Akbarian, MD, PhD)
Current Position: Postdoc, Geshwind Lab, UCLA
Denise Croote, PhD 2021 (Advisor: Daniela Schiller, PhD)
Current position: Assistant Professor, Mount Sinai
Katherine LeClair. PhD 2021 (Advisor: Scott Russo, PhD
Current position: Lab Operations Lead, Lab Central non-profit
Kevin Norman, PhD 2021 (Advisor: Hiro Morishita, PhD)
Current position: Consultant, Back Bay Life Science Advisors
Ayan Hussein, PhD 2021 (Advisors: George W Huntley, PhD and Deanna L Benson, PhD)
Current position: Postdoc, Weill-Cornell
Kavya Devarakonda, PhD 2021 (Advisors: Sarah Stanley, PhD and Paul Kenny, PhD)
Current position: Freelance Grant and Manuscript Writer
Anastasia Efthymiou, PhD 2021 (Advisor: Alison Goate, D.Phil)
Current Position: BlueRock Therapeutics
Saima Machlovi, PhD 2021 (Advisor: Alison Goate, D.Phil)
Current Position: Scientist/Biotech Equity Research Associate, Morgan Stanley
Roxana Mesias, PhD 2021 (Advisors: George W Huntley, PhD and Deanna L Benson, PhD)
Current Position: Diversity Program Manager, Weill Cornell
Ciorana Roman-Ortiz, PhD 2021 (Advisor: Roger Clem, PhD)
Current Position: Postdoc, UCLA
Tristan Fehr, PhD 2021 (Advisor: Mark G. Baxter, PhD)
Current Position: Science Policy and Communication, Ithaca, NY
Sarah Montgomery, PhD 2022 (Advisor: Minghu Han)
Current Position: Senior Neuroscience Engineer, Modendo, Inc.
Nick Upright, PhD 2022 (Advisor: Mark Baxter, PhD)
Current Position: Patent Agent, Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati
Amni Al-Kachak, PhD 2023 (Advisor: Ian Maze, PhD)
Current Position: Senior Medical Writer, Flywheel Partners
Chris Guevara, PhD 2023 (Advisors: George Huntley, Deanna Benson)
Current Position: Business Dev. and Licensing, Mass General
Amanda Leitheid, PhD 2023 (Advisor: Hala Harony-Nicolas)
Current Position: Consultant, Acsel Health
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MSTP
Steven Siegel, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 1996 (Advisor: John H. Morrison, PhD)
Thesis title: "Neurochemical characterization of specific cell populations in the macque monkey hippocampus."
Current position: Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Southern California
Adam Gazzaley, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 1998 (Advisor: John H. Morrison, PhD)
Thesis title: "Glutamate receptor plasticity in the hippocampus: implications for age-related memory and learning deficits"
Current position Professor of Neurology, Physiology, & Psychiatry, Director of Neuroscience Imaging Center, UCSF
Brett Morrison, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2001 (Advisor: John Morrison, PhD)
Current position: Associate Professor of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University
Hideo Makimura, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2004 (Advisor: Charles Mobbs)
Current Position: Vice President, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson
David Mintz, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2007 (Advisor: Deanna Benson, PhD)
Current Position: Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University
Noura Abul-Husn, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2009 (Advisor: Lakshmi Devi, PhD)
Current Position: Associate Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Erin Rich, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2010 (Advisor: Matthew Shapiro, PhD)
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Prasad Shirvalkar, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2012 (Advisor: Matthew Shapiro, PhD)
Current Position: Assistant Professor, UCSF
Jessica Nikitczuk Sereysky, MD, PhD, ISMMS 2013 (Advisor: George W Huntley, PhD)
Thesis title:Role of N-cadherin in synaptic and behavioral plasticity in mature brain
Current position: Associate Director, Bristol Myers Squibb
Dani Dumitriu, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2013 (Advisor: John Morrison, PhD)
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Columbia University
Virginia Gao, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2018 (Advisor: Cristina Alberini, PhD)
Current Position: Chief Resident, Weill-Cornell
Benjamin Laitman, MD, PhD ISMMS MSTP 2018 (Advisor: Gareth John, PhD)
Current Position: Resident, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Vincent Luo, MD, PhD ISMMS MSTP 2018 (Advisor: Yasmin Hurd, PhD)
Current Position: Resident, Cedars-Sinai Hospital
Efrain Ribeiro, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2019 (Advisor: Eric Nestler, MD, PhD)
Thesis title: " The role of nucleus accumbens somatostatin interneurons in cocaine induced plasticity”
Current position: Pathology Resident at The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Mitra Heshmati, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2019 (Advisor: Scott Russo, PhD)
Thesis title: "Inhibitory synaptic control of social behavior”
Current position: Assistant Professor, Washington University
Joe Scarpa, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2019 (Advisor:
Current Position: Resident, Weill-Cornell
Zach Lorsch, MD, PhD ISMMS MSTP 2020 (Advisor: Eric Nestler, MD, PhD)
Thesis title: " Transcriptional networks of resilience in a mouse model of depression”
Current position: Resident, Duke University
Andrew McKenzie, MD, PhD ISMMS MSTP 2019 (Advisor: Yasmin Hurd, PhD)
Current Position: Resident, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Elisa Nabel, MD, PhD ISMMS MSTP 2020 (Advisor: Hiro Morishita, MD, PhD)
Current Position: Resident, Harvard University
Philip Avigan, MD, PhD ISMMS MSTP 2020 (Advisor: Matthew Shapiro, PhD)
Current Position: Resident, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Grace Mosley, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2021 (Advisor: James Iatridis, PhD)
Thesis title: "Interaction of sex effects and intervertebral disc degeneration in a rat model of chronic back pain pathogenesis"
Current position: 3rd year medical student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Hope Kronman, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2021 (Advisor: Eric Nestler, MD, PhD)
Thesis title: "Medium spiny neuron subtypes: baseline differences and epigenetic priming by stress"
Current position: Resident (?)
Prashanth Rajarajan, MD, PhD, ISMMS MSTP 2021 (Advisor: Schahram Akbarian, MD, PhD)
Current position: Resident, Mass General