Research Interests

I am interested in how stress influences sex differences in motivated behaviors. Currently, my work focuses on understanding how adolescent stress interacts with reward processes to influence natural (food) and drug reward-related behaviors in a sex-specific manner. 

Research Interests

I am interested in how drugs of abuse affect the brain and behavior in the short- and long-term. I am currently studying the role of protein translation in cue-induced motivation.

Research Interests

Broadly, I am interested in investigating and identifying adolescent vulnerability factors for  adult psychological illnesses such as addiction disorders using translational in vivo electrophysiological recordings. Using these same techniques, I am also interested in understanding the consequences of adolescent drug use on adult neural functioning.

Research Interests

My research primarily focuses on two topics: the neurotoxicity of addictive drugs and the co-occurrence of substance use disorders. Specifically, I am interested in the neurotoxic effects of methamphetamine and underlying genetic influences, and the combined effects of alcohol and methamphetamine.

Research Interests

I use multiple human neuroimaging techniques in order to understand and minimize declines in cognitive ability while we age. Currently, I am doing work to elucidate how decreasing vascular health in the brain propagates to decreased cognitive function.