Current Environment:

Principal Investigators

Charles Nelson

Charles A. Nelson, III, PhD

Richard David Scott Chair in Pediatric Developmental Medicine Research

Professor of Pediatrics & Neuroscience; Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Adjunct Faculty, Department of Social &Behavioral Science, Harvard School of Public Health

Anne Arnett

Anne Arnett, PhD

Scientist, Division of Developmental Medicine; Wade Family Investigator in Child Psychology

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

Susan Faja

Susan Faja, PhD

Research Associate; Attending Psychologist, Division of Developmental Medicine; Carolyn Bridgemohan Chair in Developmental Medicine

Associate Professor of Pediatrics; Assistant Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School

Carol Wilkinson

Carol Wilkinson, MD, PhD

Attending Physician, Division of Developmental Medicine

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

Staff

Graham Holt

Graham Holt, MA
Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience Technology and Training Specialist

Graham received his bachelor’s degree in Earth and Environmental Science with a concentration in Physics from Whittier College (Whittier, CA) in 2001. He joined the technical support team at Electrical Geodesics, Inc. (Eugene, OR) in 2003, where he became familiar with cognitive neuroscience, technical training, dense array EEG and international travel. Graham received his master’s degree in Instructional Design from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2016. Graham joined Dr. Nelson’s lab in 2013 as the lab’s Technical and Training Specialist where he is responsible for anything equipment related (ie: maintenance, repair, acquisition, configuration, creation…) and provides creative solutions to the problems that arise in a research environment out of the affectionately titled Office of Creative Solutions.

Jessica Slater

Jessica Slater
Program Manager

Jessica joined the Division of Developmental Medicine in 2021 as Program Manager for the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience (LCN). She completed her undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Psychology at Oxford, then spent over ten years working in newsrooms and interactive media as a project manager, systems analyst and technical problem solver. A layoff in 2009 prompted her to follow her passion and return to studying the brain. She completed a PhD in the Auditory Neuroscience Lab at Northwestern University studying effects of musical expertise on language and cognitive skills, a postdoc in Northwestern's medical school recording attention-related brain activity during awake neurosurgeries, and a second postdoc in Psychology at McGill investigating links between rhythm skills, neural dynamics and ADHD. She is excited to apply her scientific training and professional experience to help integrate research activities across the LCN and facilitate the translation of research outcomes into clinical practice.

Colleen You

Colleena You
Research Administrator

Coleena joined the Division of Developmental Medicine in 2016 as a Research Administrator responsible for managing research funds and grant submissions. She graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in Business Administration and has 10+ years of experience working in the grants administration field at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children's Hospital.

Stephen Pihl

Stephen Pihl
Program Coordinator

Stephen received his bachelor’s degrees in biology and Neuroscience in 2022 from the University of Delaware (Newark, DE). Stephen worked in Hawaii, helping adults with Autism perform their daily tasks and live happy lives before moving back to Boston and joining the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience. Stephen has an interest in developmental neuroscience and the various ways the environment can impact development. He is excited to be involved with the LCN and learn more about the equipment used in the lab. When Stephen isn’t working, you can find him hiking, going to the gym, or spending time playing video games with his friends!

Sheena Obadashian

Sheena Odabashian
Program Coordinator

Sheena is a recent Berklee College of Music graduate with a double major in music therapy and music business, and a double minor in music technology and psychology. She has an interest in exploring how music affects cognitive function and development and is passionate about making mindfulness and medicine more accessible in underserved communities. She plans to use what she learns at LCN to introduce accessible community health and well-being centers throughout the states that act as an intersection between music therapy, music technology, medicine, and research. When she isn’t doing anything music or research-related, Sheena enjoys learning new hobbies in her free time. Currently she is learning how to roller skate (two years later, not much progress has been made…), makes a new ice cream recipe every month, and, as her favorite current “hobby”, is compiling a list of the best fried chicken sandwiches in Boston!

Mary Zhuo Ke

Mary Zhuo Ke
Computational Health Informatics Data Manager

Mary completed her B.S.E in Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania with a particular focus on brain computer interfaces and computational neuroscience. Prior to starting at the Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience, she worked as a student researcher at the Center for Autism Research at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where she began developing tools to explore and understand many different types of data, including neuroimaging, behavioral, and clinical assessment data. She then worked at Epic Systems Corporation as an engineer to implement new EHR tools into healthcare workflows so researchers, clinicians, and administrative teams could work together to make data-driven decisions. Mary eventually pursued a Journeyman Fellowship at the DEVCOM US Army Research Laboratory with mentorship from the Human Research and Engineering and Computational and Information Sciences directorates.

She joined the LCN to bridge her experience in data management and data science with clinical research methods to understand the potential and usability of the large quantities of research data, build a data support network and team, increase data awareness, and support the modernization of data management in the lab. She is currently pursuing a Master of Liberal Arts in Data Science part-time at Harvard University's Extension School to supplement her understanding of new advances in how organizations use their data and build tools to make the most out of their data.