Principal Investigator
Dr. Lisa Aziz Zadeh
Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh is a Professor at the University of Southern California, in the Brain and Creativity Institute, and in the Department of Occupational Science. She studies social cognition from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, using techniques including functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).
Post Doc. Fellows
Akila Kadambi
Akila Kadambi is a postdoctoral researcher studying neural correlates of the self, others, and their connection (empathy and social reasoning), emerging at the bodily/sensorimotor level. She received her PhD from UCLA in 2022. She is primarily involved in the Otherness and Belonging studies.
Graduate Students
Aditya “AJ” Jayashankar
AJ is a graduate student at the Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. His research interests relate to the improvement of diagnostic specificity through the use of multi-modal neuroimaging techniques in conjunction with neuropsychological testing to better understand how social, sensorimotor and cognitive learning network deficits contribute to distinguishing between different ASD subtypes.
Sofronia Ringold
Sofronia is an Occupational Science PhD Student in the Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. Her research interests focus on Autism Spectrum Disorder, neuroscience, and the gut microbiome. Prior to beginning the PhD program she worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Occidental College with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Biology.
Shruti Kamath
….
Email: shrutisk@usc.edu
Graduate Research Assistants
T. R. Williamson
University of the West of England|University of Oxford
Program: PhD Linguistics
contact: t.williamson@uwe.ac.uk
Miel Krauss
University of Southern California
Program: Entry-Level Doctorate of Occupational Therapy (eOTD)
contact: mjkrauss@usc.edu
Fernanda Loureiro
Potifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul
Program: PhD Neuroscience
contact: fernanda0801@gmail.com
Amarra Olado
University of Southern California
program: Entry-Level Doctorate of Occupational Therapy (eOTD)
contact: olado@usc.edu
Brooke Barry
University of California Los Angeles
program: Physiological Science/Music Performance
contact: brookelbarry1@gmail.com
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Tarun Seera
Western Washington University
Biology and Anthropology
contact: seerat@wwu.edu
Faiz Ahmed
University of Southern California
Computational Neuroscience and Economics
contact: faizahme@usc.edu
Angel Nim
University of Southern California
Biological Sciences
contact: angelnim@usc.edu
Liliana Adzich
University of Southern California
Human Bio.
contact: ladzich@usc.edu
Taran Gupta
University of Southern California
Biological Sciences, M.S. in Global Medicine
contact: trgupta@usc.edu
Natalie Putzel
University of Southern California
Biological Sciences (Biotech)
contact: n/a
Myesha Mohiuddin
University of Southern California
Health and Human Sciences
contact: mmohiudd@usc.edu
Akhil Ganti
University of Southern California
Biochemistry
contact: aganti@usc.edu
Nicole Lu
University of Southern California
Computational Neuroscience
contact: nylu@usc.edu
Simran Goel
University of Southern California
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
contact: simrango@usc.edu
Lab Alumni
Nandita Raman
Dr. Emily Kilroy
Dr. Christiana Butera
Dr. Glenn Fox
Dr. Panthea Heydari
Dr. Vesna Gamez-Djokic
Dr. Tong Sheng
Dr. Mona Sobhani
Dr. Lei Liew
Dr. Kathleen A. Garrison
Dr. Julie Werner
Riley McGuire, OTR/L
Dr. Laura Harrison
Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
The CeNEC lab also operates under the Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy.
Learn more about the lab
Contact Us
Brain and Creativity Institute
3620A McClintock Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90089-2921
Center for the Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition
3620A McClintock Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90089-2921