Meet The Team
Hannah Lamont
Hannah Lamont is a PhD Candidate in Neuroscience at Rutgers University. She independently managed her undergraduate education while working as a freelance harpist and caring for her 92-year-old grandmother living at the family home. This caregiving role ignited her passion for improving the aging experience. Her interest in mind-body health interventions and biopsychosocial wellness spurred her to pursue graduate work at D’Youville College where she graduated summa cum laude with a chiropractic degree, an M.Sci. degree, and a clinical research certificate. Hannah’s doctoral research focuses on the neural mechanism underlying the relationship between social isolation and glucose homeostasis. Hannah’s long-term goal is to expand on this work to study how social connectivity and specific social relationships might mitigate age-related cognitive decline.
Teesta Naskar
Teesta is a post doctoral scientist at Mount Sinai hospital, New York. Her research focuses on how early environmental exposures shape brain development, particularly in relation to neuropsychiatric disorders and behavioral outcomes. She is dedicated to uncovering the mechanisms by which environmental factors during critical periods contribute to the onset and progression of these conditions. In her academic and research career, she studied the interaction between genetic predispositions and environmental influences on brain function. Her doctoral research explored the impact of specific gene clusters on cognitive skills, revealing how genetic variations affect neural connectivity. Currently, in postdoctoral work, she is investigating how prenatal and early postnatal exposures, such as prenatal cannabinoid exposure, influence brain development and behavior. This research has shown significant effects on placental transcriptomics and proteomics, and their subsequent impact on offspring. In the future, she aims to establish herself as an independent neuroscientist, spearheading research that links early environmental exposures to long-term neuropsychiatric health. Her goal is to prevent and treat neuropsychiatric disorders by fostering collaborations and developing strategies grounded in an understanding of their environmental and developmental origins.
Joshua Gills
Dr. Joshua Gills is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Aging Research In Sleep Equity & Dementia Prevention Program (ARISE-DP) & Healthy Brain Aging and Sleep Center (HBASC) in the Department of Psychiatry with Institute for Excellence in Health Equity aflliation in the Department of Population Health, and has a T32 Fellowship from the the Center for Cognitive Neurology at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. In 2022, Dr. Gills received his PhD in Health, Sport, and Exercise Science (Exercise Science Concentration) from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR. He also has received additional training in Gerontology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Sleep, and Health Disparities. The scope of Dr. Gills’ current and future research lies at the intersection of lifestyle modifications, aging, health disparities, and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). His research investigates how fitness, sleep, and vascular risk impact cognitive decline ADRD risk health disparities in mid-to-late life underrepresented adults using novel neuroimaging and field-based approaches. Ultimately, Dr. Gills would like to utilize evidence-based mitigation strategies to improve neural resilience, cognition, and quality of life in underrepresented populations. Dr. Gills has been funded by government agencies and private organizations such as the NIH and the Borroughs Wellcome Fund. He has received several competitive awards and trainings including: AASM YIRF & SOAR, Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative Health Equity Scholar’s Program, NYU ADRC’s REC Scholar, University of Arkansas’ Outstanding Ph.D. Student in Exercise Science Award, and American Kinesiology Association Outstanding Master Scholar.
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Mahsa Amanabi
Mahsa is an MPH graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, currently conducting research to improve oral health literacy. After earning a dental degree, DDS, in Iran, she spent over three years practicing dentistry in underserved communities, where her experiences highlighted the need for improved patient health literacy and treatment planning in dental care. This insight drove her to pursue advanced studies at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine and eventually to move to California, where she completed a Master of Public Health degree to address dental health needs on a broader scale. Her research interests focus on the social aspects of dental health, community and provider-influenced health dynamics, and the impact of trust-based communication on treatment planning and preventive care. She is particularly interested in how health technology can enhance these areas. Her long-term goal is to make dental health more accessible and comprehensible, transforming it from a luxury to a fundamental component of community health and well-being.
Hunter Lanovoi
Hunter Lanovoi is a Ph.D. Candidate at Rutgers University. His dissertation work defines the role that oxytocinergic neuromodulation in the central nucleus of amygdala plays in the changes in social decision-making observed during sickness. His work has found that, in mice, social decision-making during sickness depend on social rank and sex and that responses from oxytocin receptor expressing neurons in the central amygdala signal salient conspecifics. In tandem Hunter is actively engaged in science policy, having served as the former president of the Science Policy and Advocacy group at Rutgers (SPAR). Hunter holds a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Rollins College.
Giada Benasi
Giada is a research scientist with a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Bologna, Italy. Her doctoral research primarily focused on the impact of psychological well-being interventions on health behaviors among individuals with type 2 diabetes, obesity, and sleep disturbances. Following her Ph.D., she completed a three-year postdoctoral research fellowship at Columbia University, where she received advanced training in the assessment of sleep and cardiometabolic health. She is dedicated to exploring the psychosocial influences on health, with the goal of developing effective behavioral interventions that enhance both psychological and physiological health outcomes for individuals with chronic medical conditions. Her work is characterized by a strong interdisciplinary approach, integrating insights from psychology, medicine, and public health to address complex health issues. Through her innovative research and evidence-based practices, she strives to improve the quality of life for those living with chronic illnesses, making significant contributions to the field of health psychology.
Biswaranjan Sahoo
Biswa is a postdoc at Rutgers University. During his Masters, he got exposure to neuroscience research through an internship at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He became fascinated by the functioning of the marvelous brain specifically the neural mechanism of learning and memory. This motivated him to pursue his doctoral studies on the role of protein tyrosine sulfation in long-term memory and long-term potentiation in the Learning and Memory lab at National Brain Research Centre. He is currently working on the neural mechanism for social thermoregulation.His long-term research plan is to study the role of physical exercises on brain health and congitive functions like learning and memory, the effects of Yoga on mind-body connections.
Arnab Choudhury
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Evangeline Canfield
Evangeline Canfield is a freelance marketer who believes that connection is most meaningful when it happens within the context of community. With a background in nonprofit management, education, and the performing arts, she has found that her biggest joys come from building a sense of belonging and excitement among her peers, colleagues and students. Evangeline is excited to join the ECRC team as a public relations liaison not only because she believes in ECRC’s mission, but also because she has first-hand experience coping with a chronic condition and understands the impact that social disconnect has on the body’s natural healing process. By sharing the stories of these exceptionally talented research scientists and by helping galvanize the necessary funding to further their research, she hopes to make a difference in the careers of the ECRC members and help in the long-term management and treatment for those suffering from loneliness.
Adrien Fillon
Adrien is a postdoctoral fellow at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. He is currently working on a statistical analysis of the ProFan project, investigating learning methods in vocational school. Adrien has a background in social psychology, economics and meta-science. He published studies on various topics, including cognitive bias, experimental philosophy, ethics, creativity and clinical psychology. Adrien is an open-science advocates, having launched the reproducibiliTea network at the university of Cyprus, and the Science of Doing Science podcast, informing researchers about meta-research. Adrien assists in producing statistical analyses for manuscripts from the team.
Zahra Adahman
Zahra Adahman is a neuroscientist with a PhD from Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. Her dissertation work focused on the role of vasopressinergic circuitry in modulating thermoregulatory behaviors in neonatal caregiving (maternal behaviors). Zahra has over a decade of neuroscience preclinical research expertise with publications on traumatic brian injury and high altitude exposure. Currently, her research focuses on exploring the psychosocial and socioeconomic factors that influence health outcomes for caregivers as well as individuals with chronic medical conditions. She is passionate about mentoring and educating those interested in STEM. Zahra holds a Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.) in Biophysics from Randolph College, and a Masters of Biomedical Sciences (MBS) from Rutgers University.
Paula Diaz-Munoz
Paula Diaz is a Ph.D. student at Rutgers University in the Lab for Social Behavior and Neuromodulation, where she investigates how social experiences—such as isolation and hierarchical status—affect peripheral immune responses through specific neural circuits. Originally from Colombia, Paula earned her undergraduate degree in biology before moving to the United States to work as a research trainee at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Under the mentorship of Dr. Kamran Khodakhah, she studied the cerebellum’s role in motivational behaviors. Through her work, Paula aims to uncover the neurobiological pathways linking social environments to physical health, with the long-term goal of advancing strategies to improve human well-being.