I originally trained in cognitive neuroscience and worked on problems related to understanding of the neural basis of face and language processing in non-clinical populations This research spurred my interests in populations with compromised language and face processing systems, especially Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which led me to pursue postdoctoral fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) and Harvard Medical School. This fellowship allowed me to build on my graduate work, but most importantly gave me the opportunity to develop skills in additional methodologies that could be used to work with more diverse populations, including infants, and young children. Moreover, the hospital setting provided me with exposure to both the research and the clinical aspects of a variety of psychopathologies. The integration of research and practice that I witnessed at BCH led to a postdoctoral respecialization program in clinical psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with the ultimate objective of developing a career as a scientist and a practitioner. During my clinical training, which has included APA-approved internship and postdoctoral fellowship, I have worked with children and adolescents in a variety of clinical settings providing both assessments and treatment. Furthermore, my clinical training has always been paired with complementary research experiences that integrate my cognitive neuroscience background with clinical populations in a hospital setting My expertise in this area led to the development of my current position, which combines research and clinical work in an academic medical center setting at Bradley Hospital and the Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
