Adriana Galván, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Adriana Galván, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology and faculty member of the Brain Research Institute at UCLA. She is also the Director of the Developmental Neuroscience Laboratory and an executive member of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at UCLA. The overall goal of her laboratory is to understand adolescent behavior by using neuroimaging methods to study the changing adolescent brain. Specifically, she examines the role of stress, sleep habits, puberty, and social relationships on adolescent risk-taking and decision making. Her work has been disseminated broadly in academic journals including The Journal of Neuroscience, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Neuron and funded by the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, The Jacobs Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience. Her research has been featured in several media outlets, in a TEDx talk on the adolescent brain and cited in U.S. Supreme Court cases regarding juvenile justice (Graham v. Florida, 2010; Miller v. Alabama, 2012). Dr. Galván received her B.A in Neuroscience from Barnard College, Columbia University (2001) and her Ph.D. from Cornell Medical School (2006). She conducted her postdoctoral research fellowship at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior. She is the recipient of the American Psychological Association Boyd McCandless Young Scholar Award, the Jacobs Foundation Young Scholar Award, a Network Scholar Award of The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience, and the William T. Grant Foundation Scholar Award.
Jessica Phuong, B.S.
Graduate Student
Jessica graduated from UCLA in 2010 with a B.S. in Neuroscience. As an undergraduate, Jessica was a research assistant in Dr. Nim Tottenham’s Developmental Affective Neroscience Lab. Her current research interests include investigating the effects of early life experience and stress on the neurobiology of social and emotional development.
Sarah Tashjian, J.D.
Graduate Student
Sarah graduated from University of Florida with a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Criminology in 2007 before obtaining her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2010. Sarah is interested in examining brain-based differences in sensitivity to socio-cultural context and positive risk taking.
Namita Tanya Padgaonkar, B.A.
Graduate Student
Tanya graduated from UC Berkeley in 2015 with B.A.s in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Public Health. She is now a neuroscience PhD student in the labs of Drs. Adriana Galván and Mirella Dapretto. She is interested in the functional and structural development of the brain, and how that relates to emotional functioning in children and adolescents. By learning more about these developmental processes, she hopes to better understand neurotypical development and what factors might contribute to and protect from the development of mood and anxiety disorders in subclinical populations.
Amanda Baker, B.A.
Graduate Student
Amanda graduated from UC Berkeley in 2014 with a B.A. in Psychology and Cognitive Science. Before coming to UCLA, Amanda worked in Sonia Bishop’s Affective Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Berkeley and Vinod Menon’s Cognitive & Systems Neuroscience Lab at Stanford. She is currently interested in investigating the effects of early life experiences and individual differences on adolescent brain development and mental health.
Natalia Orendain, MPH
Graduate Student
nat.oren@ucla.edu
Natalia is a neuroscience doctoral student at UCLA studying the impact of early life adversity on pubertal maturation and structural neurodevelopment in youth. She is also a science policy fellow with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and a creative writing teacher for detained youth in LA County. Ms. Orendain contributes to the scientific understanding of youth neurodevelopment and pubertal maturation within the context of adversity exposure to inform legislation and policy as it pertains to child welfare and Juvenile Justice System reform. She completed a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Early Childhood Education from the University of Central Florida and holds a Masters of Public Health with High Distinction from the University of Queensland in Australia.
Daniela Sarmiento
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Daniela is a 3rd-year Psychobiology major originally from Ecuador. She is interested in learning about the intersection between neuroscience and psychology, especially as it applies to child and adolescent development. By working in the Galván Lab, Daniela wants to discover what it means to be a researcher and pioneer in the field of developmental neuroscience.
Jason Muljadi
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Jason is a second-year neuroscience major at UCLA. Growing up, Jason has always been fascinated with the human brain and the way people interacted. In high school, he had the opportunity to delve into the realm of neurodegenerative diseases and to teach eighth graders at a school in Lake Balboa. He hopes that, through his experience at the Galván Lab, he can gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of neuroscience as well as gaining experience that will help him advance in the field of neurology.
Emily Pham
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Emily is a 2nd year Psychobiology major at UCLA. Given her instructional experience with a wide range of students and her enthusiasm for working with children and adolescents, she is excited to better understand the relationship between neuroscience, psychology, and biology as it relates to early development. With the Galván Lab, Emily hopes to gain invaluable experience conducting research and explore the field of research as a possible career path.
ALUMNI
(more recent departures listed first)
Jordan Mullins- Former research assistant
Currently a graduate student at UC Riverside
Rachel Storer- Former Lab Manager
Currently a graduate student at Bryn Mawr College
Camille Johnston- Former research assistant
Currently a graduate student at Temple University
Jennifer Shintaku- Former undergraduate research assistant
Aya McGlothlin- Former undergraduate research assistant
Dan Zhu- Former undergraduate research assistant
Sam Swanson, PhD. – Former Post Doctoral Student
Dominic Tran – Former undergraduate research assistant
Kayla Oakley – Former Lab Manager
Currently a post-bacc at University of Ohio
Diane Goldenberg, Ph.D. – Former graduate student
Currently a postdoc at the University of Southern California
Nadia Hassan – Former undergraduate research assistant
Steven Soltani – Former undergraduate research assistant
Aboudeh Almallouhi – Former undergraduate research assistant
Laura Rosales – Former undergraduate research assistant
Nina Mokhtarzada – Former undergraduate research assistant
Crystal Rivera – Former undergraduate research assistant
Kaitlyn S. Breiner – Former graduate student
Currently a postdoc with Dr. George Slavich at UCLA
Perri Katzman – Former research assistant
Currently a graduate student at NYU
César Hernández – Former undergraduate research assistant
Abby Loi – Former undergraduate research assistant
Marnee McClellan – Former undergraduate research assistant
Jessica Hernandez – Former undergraduate research assistant
Kathy Do – Former lab manager
Kathy is pursuing a Ph.D. in developmental psychology
at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with Eva Telzer.
Jennifer Grijalva – Former undergraduate research assistant
Thomas Liu – Former undergraduate research assistant
Alexandra Sherman – former research assistant
Currently a graduate student at SFSU
Diana Guzman – Former undergraduate research assistant
Stephanie Tuncel – Former undergraduate research assistant
Currently a behavioral specialist at TOTAL Programs
Emily Barkley-Levenson, Ph.D. – Former graduate student
Currently an Assistant Professor at Hofstra University
Elliott Gomez – Former undergraduate research assistant
Currently teaching English abroad in Spain
Elica Rahdar, Ph.D. – Former postdoctoral fellow
Currently COO and Head of Research at 3TEN8
Nancy Gomez – Former undergraduate research assistant
Currently a Program Representative at the UCLA Latin American Institute
Brian Delpasand – Former undergraduate research assistant
Currently a medical student at Temple University
Eva Telzer, Ph.D. – Former graduate student
Currently an Assistant Professor at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Kristine McGlennen – Former lab manager
Currently a Registered Nurse, Critical Care Immersion Program at Regions Hospital, St. Paul, MN
Linda van Leijenhorst, Ph.D. – Former postdoctoral fellow
Currently an Assistant Professor at Leiden University
Marissa Sharif – Former undergraduate research assistant
Adriana Campos – Former undergraduate research assistant
Katherine Harmon – Former undergraduate research assistant