BraIN Lab Members & Alums

Krista Lisdahl, PhD

krista.medina@gmail.com / medinak@uwm.edu

Dr. Lisdahl (formerly Medina) is a Professor of Psychological Brain Science and serves as the Director of the UWM Brain Imaging and Neuropsychology (BraIN) laboratory. She completed a Clinical Neuropsychology Internship at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, as well as a NIDA-funded two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of California, San Diego and has been in the field of addiction neuroscience for over 25 years. Dr. Lisdahl's main specialization is in clinical neuropsychology, addiction, neuropsychopharmacology, adolescent brain development, health psychology, and neuroimaging. At UWM, she teaches courses in Neuropsychology, Brain Development, Assessment, Psychopathology, and Drugs & Behavior/ Psychopharmacology.

Career Honors:

2022: Received a UW-Milwaukee Senior Research Award.
2013: Received a UW-Milwaukee Graduate School/Foundation Research Award.
November 2012: Named a Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and invited to attend the Japanese-American Kavli Fronteirs of Science Symposium.
July 2012: Received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from President Obama and the National Institute of Health (NIH).
2011: Received the NIDA Division of Clinical Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, Behavioral and Brain Development 2011 Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

MacKenna Shampine
shampine@uwm.edu
MacKenna is a 1st year doctoral student studying clinical psychology with an emphasis in neuropsychology at UWM. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from Hope College in 2023, where she worked with Dr. Lindsey Root Luna to investigate the psychophysiological correlates of emotion regulation and stress. During this time, she also worked as a Psychiatric Technician at Pine Rest Psychiatric Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI. She later joined the Trauma History Investigation of Neurodevelopment in Kids (THINK Lab) at Wayne State University with Dr. Hilary Marusak, serving as study coordinator and lab manager for two years. Beyond the lab, MacKenna is an executive board member of Science Policy Network–Detroit, where she advocates for evidence-based health policy at local, state, and national levels.
MacKenna is interested in researching the psychobiological underpinnings of stress and trauma in youth, with particular interest in the intersection of physical and mental health. She aims to develop novel treatments by integrating physiological and psychological approaches to improve outcomes for stress- and trauma-related psychopathology.

Caylin Faria
cmfaria@uwm.edu
Caylin is a 2nd year doctoral student studying clinical psychology with an emphasis in neuropsychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). Prior to UWM, she worked at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston as a Senior Clinical Research Coordinator in the Dauten Family Center for Bipolar Treatment Innovation and a Clinical Research Coordinator II in the Pappas Center for Neuro-Oncology. She joined the MGH team after earning her B.S. in Psychology from Bridgewater State University (BSU) in 2020. While at BSU, she completed an Honors thesis and participated in projects in the Attention and Decision-Making lab. Caylin was also an Adrian Tinsley Research Grant awardee and interned for Rhode Island Hospital's Neuropsychology Program and Massachusetts's Positive Action Against Chemical Addiction center. Her experiences in the field of clinical psychology and neuropsychology have cultivated an interest in the brain-behavior relationship and cognitive functioning. Caylin is broadly interested in risk and resilience factors for cognitive impairment. Of particular interest is the interplay between physical fitness, substance use, and cognition. Methodologies of interest are neuroimaging, neurocognitive assessment, and biological markers. When possible, she aims to explore her interests in groups historically omitted from the literature to improve the use of assessment and intervention.

Chase Shankula

shankula@uwm.edu

Chase is a 4th year doctoral student studying clinical psychology at UWM with an emphasis in neuropsychology. In 2020, he earned his B.S. in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego, completing a thesis under Dr. Karen Dobkins on the modeling of ruminative behavior. Upon graduating, he joined Dr. Pietro Sanna’s lab at the Scripps Research Institute to study the effects of HIV-1 viral proteins on substance use and metabolism in transgenic rodent models. He took an interest in brain development while also interning with Cortica Healthcare, where he assisted in monitoring the effects of sensorimotor therapy in children with autism spectrum disorders.
Chase is primarily interested in exploring how biological and environmental factors interact to predispose youth to risk-taking and internalizing behaviors. He aims to contribute to the development of early detection methods for these maladaptive behaviors through neuroimaging and neuropsychological assessment, aided with the integration of machine learning and complex longitudinal modeling.

Kyle Baacke

kbaacke@uwm.edu

Kyle Baacke is a 4th year doctoral student studying psychology at UWM with an emphasis in Neuroscience. He graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Neuroscience from Knox College in 2016, where he worked with Dr. Andy Hertel investigating the correlates of nicotine and alcohol addiction. Following his time at Knox College, Kyle worked as a data systems analyst in the Cannabis retail industry where he developed and maintained scalable cloud-based e-commerce solutions. Kyle recently earned his M.S. in Psychological Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) as a member of the Decision Neuroscience Lab directed by Dr. Aron Barbey and the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience of Psychopathology (CANOPY) Lab directed by Dr. Wendy Heller. During his time at UIUC, Kyle collaborated on two projects for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that utilized advanced statistical predictive modeling techniques and approaches: Teaching AI to Leverage Overlooked Residuals (TAILOR) and Measuring Biological Aptitude (MBA). Kyle also collaborated on a variety of projects evaluating dimensionality reduction, feature selection, and data harmonization of publicly available fMRI data for use in machine learning models. Kyle’s primary interest is in understanding and predicting individual differences in cannabis use outcomes, particularly substance use disorder. His current research interest is in the integration of behavioral, neuroimaging, and multi-omics data to produce interpretable statistical and machine learning models to predict and understand the development of cannabis use disorder. To further this goal, he plans to leverage his experience in cloud computing to enable scalable and reproducible preprocessing and analysis of large-scale datasets.

Gabriella (Gabby) Navarro-Love

navarrog@uwm.edu

Gabby is a fifth-year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at UWM with an emphasis in neuropsychology. She earned her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Behavioral Neuroscience from Stockton University in 2016, then completed her M.S. in Psychology at Drexel University. At Drexel, she worked in the Applied Neurotechnologies Lab with individuals affected by multiple sclerosis and stroke, applying cognitive assessment and neuromodulation approaches to improve functional outcomes. She later joined the Coatesville VA Medical Center as a research assistant and psychometrist, where she helped investigate the link between traumatic brain injury and substance use disorder in veterans. That work sparked her interest in substance use etiology and shifted her research focus toward developmental risk processes.

Gabby’s primary research interests focus on how parental substance use history shapes adolescents’ neurocognitive development and increases vulnerability to early substance use. She is also interested in identifying cognitive and environmental factors that may buffer this risk, with the goal of informing interventions that target these modifiable pathways. Her work leverages longitudinal statistical approaches and integrates neuroimaging with neuropsychological methods to identify the mechanisms underlying these outcomes. Gabby is currently completing an external practicum in adult neuropsychology at the Milwaukee VA and ultimately aims to become a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist.

STAFF & RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

Caitlin Nelson

Lab Coordinator

BS in Psychology and Minor in Women & Gender Studies at UWM

Erick Bernal

Phlebotomist/Data Manager

BS in Biochemistry & Minors in Biology & Psychology at UWM

Clem Schumacher

Lead Research AssistantBA in Psychology & Minor in Sociology at UWM

Tierel Hood-Nellum

Youth RA

BA in Psychology at UWM

Harper Jost Mosesson

Youth RA

BA in Psychology at UWM

Josh Roesel

Youth RA

BS in Psychology at UWM Minor in mathematics

Vivien Blecking

Phlebotomist

BA in Psychology & Neuroscience at UWM

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

Miranda Paltzer
Co-Lead Undergraduate Liason

Nur Harun
Co-Lead Undergraduate Liason

Sabrina Arassi

Allysse Lewis

Aiden Wright

Michael Hekmat

Jacob Raymond

Alesha Achtner

Allison Massek

Dahlia Berriman

LAB ALUMNI

Ashley Stinson

elizabeth.ashley.stinson@emory.edu

Ashley graduated from UWM in May of 2025 with a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. She also graduated from the University of Alabama in 2019 with a B.S. in Psychology and minors in Human Development and Addiction and Recovery. Prior to undergraduate graduation, she spent the summer of 2017 working as a research assistant at University of Missouri-Columbia in the MU Alcohol Research Training Program and summer of 2018 as a NIDA intern at the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research at the University of Minnesota.
Ashley’s primary research interests include examining the impact of childhood adversity on neurocognitive development and health behaviors such as substance use and characterizing potential resiliency factors that may buffer the impacts of stress. She is also interested in examining these questions through a social determinants of health lens to inform policy work.

Julia Harris M.A.

harri585@uwm.edu

Julia is a 6th year doctoral student studying clinical psychology at UWM. She graduatedfrom the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. Later, she received her M.A. at American University working with Dr. Laura Juliano studying interventions for smoking cessation. During her M.A., she worked as a special volunteer at NIDA working with Dr. Lorenzo Leggio on research investigating the behavioral correlates that contribute to racial disparity in relation to alcohol use disorder.
Julia is primarily interested in researching the etiology, development, and progression of substance use disorder with a particular focus on social drivers of health and health disparities. Julia’s current research interests include examining neighborhood level-factors including built systems/structures(e.g. neighborhood violence, crime and threat) and natural environment factors (air pollution) that may impact the developing brain, cognition, and subsequent substance use, utilizing both neuroimaging and biobehavioral/neuropsychological measurements.

Ryan Sullivan, PhD

rysullivan@health.ucsd.edu

Ryan graduated with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at UWM with an emphasis on Neuropsychology. He graduated from Stony Brook University in 2018 with a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology. Ryan has previously worked on research at Yale Psychiatry with Drs. Brent Moore and Frank Buono studying illicit substance use treatment in methadone/buprenorphine populations. Additionally, he has worked on research at Stony Brook Psychiatry with Drs. Roman Kotov and Greg Perlman on longitudinal studies of female adolescent major depressive disorder onset and first-episode psychosis patients; and, with Dr. Scott Moeller on reviews and analyses of substance use literature.
Ryan is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychiatry for the University of California - San Diego ABCD site.

Alex Wallace, PhD

alwallace@health.ucsd.edu

Alex graduated with a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology at UWM, and earned his B.S. in Psychology from University of Iowa with a minor in Human Relations. After college, he worked as a research assistant in the Iowa ADHD and Development Lab and the Cognitive Brain Development Lab studying adolescent brain development, substance use, and risky behavior. As a graduate student he attended both pediatric and adult neuropsychology practicums at the Medical College of Wisconsin to help in understanding neuropsychological functioning across the lifespan.
Alex is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychiatry for the University of California - San Diego ABCD site, and prior to was on externship at the pediatric and adult neuropsychology placement at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Alex hopes to continue to expand his understanding of neurodevelopment across the lifespan.

Kaitlynne Leclaire, PhD

Kaitlynne graduated with a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology at UWM. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2015 where she received her bachelor's degree in Psychology and a minor in Political Science. Upon graduating from UMass, she worked as a clinical research coordinator at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston for 2 years. She assisted with a multitude of longitudinal and cross-sectional studies in multiple sclerosis to identify clinical, radiological, and molecular markers that correlate with disease severity and progression. She also co-managed pilot studies that focused on positive psychology and cognitive remediation in this population. In her early career at UWM, she completed work with Drs. Ira Driscoll and David Osmon that focused on characterizing and detecting brain and behavior changes as early predictors of age-related cognitive decline.

Christopher Medina-Kirchner, PhD

Christopher attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for his undergraduate degree where he joined the BraIN Lab as a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. There, he began to study the behavioral and pharmacological effects of recreational drugs. After reading High Price by Dr. Carl L. Hart, Chris became interested in human drug administration studies and how they can be used as a tool to prevent the spread of drug-related misinformation. He went on to become a Ph.D. student in the Psychology Department at Columbia University, where he worked under the mentorship of Dr. Hart in the Neuropsychopharmacology Laboratory. His research interests consist of the acute, repeated-dose, and residual effects of recreational drug combinations in humans. He continues to use the information gained from his studies to ensure that our drug education, treatment, and policies are based on science and not misinformation. He is currently a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School.

Megan Ritchay (Kangiser), PhD

Megan graduated from Creighton University with a B.A. in Psychology. She previously worked in a behavioral pharmacology lab at Creighton University examining relationships between environmental enrichment, adolescent nicotine exposure, and sensitivity to stimulant use in adulthood using rodent models, as well as studying pharmacotherapies for methamphetamine misuse.
Megan completed year-long advanced externships in adult neuropsychology at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center. She was a postdoctoral fellow in adult neuropsychology at the Medical College of Wisconsin and completed her predoctoral internship in the Neuropsychology Track at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Fall 2020.

Kyle Jennette, PhD

Kyle earned his B.A. in Psychology from Flagler College, and M.A. in Gerontology from the University of South Florida (USF). While completing his Master’s, he worked as a board certified psychometrist for the USF College of Medicine and its affiliated hospitals. He then took a position as lead clinical research coordinator for Emory University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. As a clinical neuropsychology PhD student at UWM, Kyle completed an advanced neuropsychology externship in both the Health Psychology Service in the Department of Transplant Surgery at Froedtert Hospital and the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center. Kyle began a predoctoral internship with emphasis in Adult Neuropsychology at the University of Chicago Medicine 2019.

Kristin Maple, PhD

Kristin earned a B.S. in Biology with a Psychology minor from Gonzaga University in 2011. After college, she worked as a research assistant for Dr. Bonnie Nagel at Oregon Health & Science University, studying adolescent brain development. She joined the UWM BraIN Lab in 2013 and received her PhD in clinical neuropsychology in 2019. She completed her internship at the Baltimore VA in 2018-2019 and began her post-doctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at the Minneapolis VA in 2019.

Skyler Shollenbarger, PhD

Skyler graduated from the University of Cincinnati (UC) in 2008 with his bachelor's in psychology. Following graduation, he worked as the research coordinator for the Alcohol and Anxiety Lab at UC. He joined the UWM BraIN lab in 2011 and received his doctorate in clinical psychology in 2017. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Henry Ford Health System Clinical Neuropsychology Fellowship Program.

Tasha Wade (Wright), PhD

nwade@health.ucsd.edu

Tasha graduated with her bachelors from Point Loma Nazarene University and began as a student in the UWM BraIN lab in 2012. She received her PhD in clinical neuropsychology in 2018 after completing an internship at the VA Puget Sound American Lake. In 2018, she started as a post-doctoral fellow at UCSD with Dr. Kara Bagot.
Currently, she works at UC-San Diego as an Assistant Adjunct Professor and is still involved in ABCD!

Jenessa Price, PhD

Faculty profile: https://fcd.mcw.edu/?module=faculty&func=view&name=Jenessa_Price_PhD&id=6653
MCW Health Psychology Residency page: https://www.mcw.edu/Psychiatry-Behavioral-Medicine/Health-Psychology-Residency-Doctoral-Internship-Program/Core-Faculty.htm

Dr. Price is an Assistant Professor of Surgery and Psychiatry and Transplant Psychologist within the Division of Transplant Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). She serves as a core faculty member within the APA-approved MCW Health Psychology Residency (Internship) Program. Additionally, she developed the Neuropsychology and Intervention Clinic within the Transplant Mental Health program and provides supervision of neuropsychological assessment and psychological treatment through the MCW Health Psychology Practicum. She completed APA-approved doctoral training in Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology at the University of Cincinnati (PhD) and Boston Consortium in Clinical Psychology (Clinical Internship). She then completed a T32 postdoctoral fellowship at McLean Hospital–Harvard Medical School specializing in neuroimaging and addiction. Dr. Price’s clinical practice utilizes biopsychosocial assessment to inform clinical intervention among those with critical medical illness. Her research examines neurocognitive correlates of addiction and psychiatric disease states, towards the identification of at-risk cohorts and optimization of transplant outcomes.

Alicia Barr (Thomas), PhD

athomas4@uwm.edu https://uwm.edu/psychology/people/barr-alicia-thomas/

Alicia was a post-doctoral research associate at UWM in the psychology department until 2018. She received her bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN respectively. After completing her Master’s degree Dr. Thomas spent 6 years with GE Healthcare, designing applications for cardiac imaging equipment. She received her doctoral degree in 2014 from the Pharmacology Department at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Alicia's research focuses using the application of multimodal brain imaging to better characterize consequences of chronic drug use during adolescence. More specifically, her work examines the effect of marijuana and alcohol use on brain function and neural connectivity. Her research interests also include determining whether lifestyle factors like BMI or activity level moderate the effects of chronic drug use.

Claudia Padula, PhD

https://med.stanford.edu/bravelab.html

Dr. Padula is a Research Health Science Specialist at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System (MIRECC) and Instructor (Affiliate) at Stanford School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Padula completed her undergraduate work and research assistant positions at UCSD and received her masters and doctorate degrees at the University of Cincinnati in psychology with an emphasis in neuropsychology. She fulfilled her APA-accredited clinical internship in neuropsychology at Patton State Hospital and is an alumni of the APA-accredited Sierra Pacific MIRECC postdoctoral fellowship with an emphasis in geropsychology. She ultimately wants to improve treatment outcomes for Veterans suffering from addiction by leveraging the power of where neuroscience and clinical psychology intersect.

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