Mark Bowen, PhD
Mentor: Matthew Howard III, MD
Graduate School: University of Iowa
INSPIRE research: The effects of 2 kilohertz intracranial electrical stimulation of the human arcuate fasciculus on auditory working memory
Grace Kim, PhD, MD
Mentor: Jacob Michaelson, PhD
Graduate School: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Medical School: University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago
INSPIRE research: Understanding the genetic basis of sleep disruption in autism spectrum disorder
Mackenzie (Spicer) Rysted, PhD
Mentor: Nandakumar Narayanan, MD, PhD
Graduate School: University of Iowa
INSPIRE research: Identifying the basic neural circuit mechanisms underlying cognitive dysfunction
Jax Skye, PhD
Mentor: Dorit Kliemann, PhD, and James Traer, PhD
Graduate School: University of Iowa Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
INSPIRE research: How low-level auditory feature perception contributes to understanding emotion from speech in autism, schizophrenia, and depression
Past INSPIRE Fellows
Allison Momany, PhD, 2022-2024
Mentor: Lane Strathearn, MD PhD
Graduate School: University of Iowa
INSPIRE research: Prenatal and neonatal risk factors and genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in the development of neurodevelopmental disorders (ADHD, autism, etc.), with a particular focus on the development of these disorders in infants born preterm.
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Research Scholar, Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, University of Iowa
Gail Harmata, PhD, 2021-2023
Mentor: Vince Magnotta, PhD
Graduate School: University of Iowa
INSPIRE research: How neuroimaging can be used as a predictive tool for bipolar diagnosis and/or symptoms
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Research Scholar, Department of Radiology, University of Iowa
Alexandra Bova, PhD, 2021-2023
Mentor: Nandakumar Naranayan, MD
Graduate School: University of Michigan
INSPIRE research: How changes in striatal dopamine levels influence striatal projection neuron activity during interval timing
Serena Bunu Gumusoglu, MSc, PhD, 2022-2024
Mentor: Mark Santillan, MD PhD
Graduate School: University of Iowa
INSPIRE research: Gestational serotonin in maternal-fetal inflammation and child ASD risk
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa
Amanda Benavides, MD PhD, 2018-2021
Mentor: Peg Nopoulos, MD
Graduate School: University of Iowa
Medical School: University of Iowa
INSPIRE Research: Neurodevelopmental outcomes of premature infants: effects of anemia and its treatment
Current Position: Psychiatry Resident, University of Iowa
Aubrey Chan, MD PhD, 2018-2020
Mentor: John Wemmie, MD PhD
Graduate School: University of Utah
Medical School: University of Utah Medicine
Psychiatry Residency: University of Iowa
INSPIRE Research: Role of acid-sensing ion channel plays in the defensive response to CO2 exposure in mice.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa
Amanda Decker, PhD, 2019-2021
Mentor: Mark Niciu, MD PhD
Graduate School: University of Iowa
INSPIRE Research: Understanding the subanesthetic doses of ketamine and its metabolites on cellular respiration in human neurons.
Current Position: Biomedical Editor, General Dynamics Information Technology
Jessica DeWitt, PhD, 2017-2019
Mentor: Hanna Stevens, MD PhD
Graduate School: University of Southern California
INSPIRE Research: Evaluated the role of oxidative stress pathway abnormalities in basal ganglia, related to BCAA catabolism that resulted in autism spectrum disorder-like behaviors in mice.
Current Position: Associate Medical Director, Symbiotix
Karina Kruth, PhD, 2020-2022
Mentor: Aislinn Williams, MD PhD
Graduate School: University of Iowa
INSPIRE Research: Molecular dysfunction of bipolar disorder
Current Position: Postdoc, University of Iowa
Deniz A. Madencioglu Kul, PhD, 2020-2022
Mentor: Aislinn Williams, MD PhD
Graduate School: Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
INSPIRE Research: My INSPIRE project is investigating how copy number variations in the human genome play a role in psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia.
Current Position: Postdoc, University of Iowa
Sara Maurer, PhD, 2020-2022
Mentor: Hanna Stevens, MD PhD
Graduate School: Duke University
INSPIRE Research: My project explores the mechanism of prenatal stress-induced alterations in offspring brain and behavior. Specifically, I am examining whether the cytokine IL-6 is sufficient to induce the cellular changes in the developing striatum seen after prenatal stress.
Current Position: Postdoc, University of Iowa
Jacob Miller, MD PhD, 2020-2022
Mentor: Peg Nopoulos, MD
Graduate School: University of South Dakota
Medical School: University of South Dakota
Psychiatry Residency: University of Iowa
INSPIRE Research: Cognitive impairment after focal brain lesions.
Current Position: Division Chief, Unity Point Health St. Luke's Hospital
Victoria Muller Ewald, PhD, 2020-2022
Mentor: Krystal Parker, PhD
Graduate School: University of Iowa
INSPIRE Research: I study how the cerebellum contributes to cognitive processes such as interval timing. My INSPIRE research project involves evaluating whether transcranial-magnetic stimulation of the cerebellum helps alleviate cognitive symptoms in bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and autism.
Current Position: Postdoc, University of Iowa
Ki-Won Nam, MD, 2017-2019
Mentor: BC Ho, MD
Medical School: Catholic University of Degau, South Korea
Psychiatry Residency: University of Iowa
INSPIRE Research: Applied machine learning and natural language processing algorithms to the clinical notes of psychiatric patients (total N > 200,000) to predict longitudinal progress of psychiatric conditions and statistically assess mental status and suicide risk.
Current Position: Psychiatrist, Seattle Neuropsychiatric Treatment Center
Krystal Nizar, MD PhD, 2019-2020
Mentor: Aaron Boes, MD PhD
Graduate School: University of California, San Diego
Medical School: University of California, San Diego
Psychiatry Residency: University of California, San Francisco
Justin Reber, PhD, 2019-2021
Mentor: Aaron Boes, MD PhD
Graduate School: University of Iowa
INSPIRE Research: I am studied how to derive different predictors of stroke outcome from the connectomes of healthy people.
Current Position: Postdoc, University of Pennsylvania
Josephine Schamp, PhD, 2017-2019
Mentor: Nandakumar Narayanan, MD PhD
Graduate School: University of Iowa
INSPIRE Research: Dr. Schamp established a genetic model (α-synuclein based) to study the role of dopamine in the pathways involving movement, reward, and timing, as well as exploring potential new therapeutics for treatment diseases involving dysfunction or disregulation of dopamine.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, York College
Nicholas Trapp, MD, 2017-2019
Mentor: Aaron Boes, MD PhD
Medical School: University of Nebraska
Psychiatry Residency: Washington University in St. Louis
INSPIRE Research: Dr. Trapp led a three-armed trans magnetic stimulation clinical trial involving schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorder.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa