Biography
At Amherst College I became interested in brain research, majored in neuroscience, and planned to do graduate work in this field. While working as a laboratory technician for a year following college, I lived in a house where a young man came to stay immediately following release from his first hospitalization due to schizophrenia. Over the ensuing year, as I watched the illness devastate this man#146;s attempt to grow into a strong and independent person, my interest turned from basic neuroscience to clinical neuropsychiatric research.
During medical school at the University of Connecticut I used nearly every opportunity for electives or summer breaks to do various types of lab research. This included stints with Wade Berrettini#146;s neurogenetics group, and Judy Rapaport's ADHD research group, at the National Institute's of Health.
During residency in psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh I worked directly with both clinical and preclinical schizophrenia researchers, in particular David Lewis. Based on evidence that schizophrenia involves developmental and genetic abnormalities, I sought postdoctoral research training in developmental neurogenetics with John Rubenstein at USCF.
Following residency I started my own laboratory at the Weill Cornell Medical College in July, 2001.
EMAIL: SAA2007@med.cornell.edu
