Sara Pardej
Sara is a clinical psychology doctoral student currently on internship at the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Cognitive Science with a minor in Family Studies from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As an undergraduate, Sara was a research assistant in the Child and Family Health Lab and the Adult Imaging and Memory Lab (AIM). Sara was a McNair scholar and her project focused on the rates of executive dysfunction in a typically developing sample using two D-KEFS tasks.
Broadly, Sara’s interests lie in pediatric neuropsychology. More specifically, she is interested in the impact of neurodevelopmental disorders as they relate to neuropsychological constructs like executive function and attention. She uses both cross-sectional and sophisticated growth curve longitudinal approaches to addressing development of neuropsychological functions including motor, executive, psychosocial, and attention functioning. She is also using EEG methodology to examine the neural underpinnings of attention in children with NF1, supported in part by a Young Investigator Award from the Children’s Tumor Foundation.
Brianna Young
Brianna is a clinical psychology doctoral student currently in her fifth year. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from San Jose State University in San Jose, California. Prior to beginning graduate study, Brianna worked as a project coordinator and research assistant in a clinical trial at SJSU, which examined the acceptability, feasibility and efficacy of tele-behavior therapy for youth and adults with tic disorders. Additionally, she has experience working in applied behavior analysis with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders as well as facilitating quantitative electroencephalography with children and adults in a neurofeedback clinic.
Brianna’s primary research interests include early detection and intervention strategies for children with neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorders and Williams syndrome. She is currently working on a treatment development study related to use of play and humor infused exposure therapy with young children with Williams syndrome who struggle with anxiety and specific phobias.
Ellora Mohanty
Ellora is a clinical psychology doctoral student currently in her third year. She received her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience with a minor in Chemistry and a certificate in conceptual foundations of medicine from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA. As an undergraduate, Ellora was a research assistant in the Infant Communication Lab at the University of Pittsburgh, and the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers University.
Prior to graduate school, Ellora worked as an Intramural Research and Training Award Fellow at the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service at the National Institute of Mental Health. The service conducted neuropsychological assessments for children with various rare genetic and metabolic disorders often associated with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability.
Ellora is interested in pediatric neuropsychology and her current interests involve studying the development and treatment of cognitive, behavioral, and social impairments in youth. She is currently working on examining the psycho-social interventions implemented in various neurogenic conditions.
Bolade Santos
Bolade is a clinical psychology doctoral student currently in her first year. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Public Health from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Prior to beginning graduate school, Bolade provided applied behavior analysis services to children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. Most recently she worked as a study coordinator for the University of Minnesota site of the nationwide Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study consortium examining child development from the fetal period through the first decade of life.
Bolade is interested in pediatric neuropsychology and the cognitive, emotional, and neural underpinnings of psychological disorders throughout childhood development. She hopes to study the effectiveness of interventions targeting impairments that present in children with neurodevelopment disorders.
Isabelle Wilson – coming soon.
