Training Program
in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities

Past Trainees

  • Jennifer J.D. Morrissette, PhDMentor: Nancy Spinner, PhD
    Years: 1998 - 2001

    Associate Professor of Clinical Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
    Scientific Director, Cancer Cytogenetics
    Perelman School of Medicine at Univ. of Pennsylvania

    Clinical Director of the Center for Personalized Diagnostics
    Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania/Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Jacqueline S. Beesley, PhDMentor: Judith Grinspan, PhD
    Years: 2000 - 2001

    Sr. Research Manager, Operations & Communications
    Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute
    University of Glasgow, UK
  • Philipp Lenzlinger, MDMentor: Tracy McIntosh, PhD
    Years: 2000 - 2001

    Chief Physician of Surgery
    Limmit Valley Hospital
    Zürich, Switzerland
  • William S. Baek, MDMentor: Jeffrey Golden, MD
    Years: 2000 - 2001

    Neurologist
    Parkside Medical Group, Inc., Upland, CA
  • Peter J. O'Brien, PhDMentor: Vivian Cheung, MD
    Years: 2000 - 2001

    Principal Research Scientist
    Pharmacology, Therakos Inc.
  • Jahan Ara, PhDMentor: David Pleasure, MD
    Years: 2001 - 2004

    Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology & Physiology
    Director of Research
    Drexel University College of Medicine
  • Carrie E. Bearden, PhDMentor: Martha Farah, PhD
    Years: 2001-2002

    Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Psychology
    Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
    UCLA School of Medicine
  • Brenda E. Porter, MD, PhDMentor: Amy Brooks-Kayal, MD
    Years: 2001 - 2002

    Professor of Neurology & Neurological Sciences
    Stanford University Medical Center

    Director, Stanford Tuberous Sclerosis Clinic
    Medical Director, EEG Lab
    Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford
  • Andrea S. Heberlein, PhDMentor: Martha Farah, PhD
    Years: 2002 - 2006

    Lecturer in Psychology
    Boston College
  • Tyrone Bentley, MDMentor: Marc Yudkoff, MD
    Years: 2003 - 2005

    Medical Director
    Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, LLC
  • Joel P. Bish, PhDMentor: Tony Simon, PhD
    Years: 2003 - 2005

    Associate Professor of Psychology
    Ursinus College
  • Amanda Mishizen-Wilhelm, PhDMentor: David Lynch, MD, PhD
    Years: 2003 - 2004

    Medical Director
    Neurodegenerative Diseases & Psychiatry
    Teva Pharmacueuticals, North America Medical Affairs
  • Aki Ito, PhDMentor: David Pleasure, MD
    Years: 2005

    Assistant Project Scientist Investigator
    University of California, Davis
  • Joseph E. Sullivan, III, MDMentor: John Detre, MD
    Years: 2005 - 2007

    Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics
    Director, Pediatric Epilepsy Center
    University of California, San Francisco
  • Pepe J. Hernandez, PhDMentor: Ted Abel, PhD
    Years: 2006 - 2008

    Neuroscience Writer & Editor
    ScienceDocs Inc.
  • Arati S. Kreibich, PhDMentor: Rita Valentino, PhD
    Edward (Ted) Brodkin, MD
    Years: 2006 - 2009

    Special Scientific Advisor
    Charley’s Fund
  • James R. Munoz, PhDMentor: Philip Haydon, PhD
    Matthew Dalva, PhD
    Years: 2007 - 2010

    Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience
    Nova Southeastern University
  • Paulette A. McRae, PhDMentor: Brenda Porter, MD, PhD
    Years: 2008 - 2011

    Associate Director of Specialty Programs & Diversity
    Office of Academic Training & Outreach Programs
    Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Joshua G. Jackson, PhDMentor: Michael Robinson, PhD
    Years: 2008 - 2010

    Assistant Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology
    Drexel University
  • Jacqueline Simonet (Predoc)Mentor: Jeffrey Golden, MD
    Years: 2008 - 2011

    Visiting Assistant Professor, Biology
    Arcadia University

  • Michael J. Castle (Predoc)Mentor: John Wolfe, VMD, PhD
    Years: 2008 - 2011

    Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
    University of California, San Diego
  • Pavel Ortinski, PhDMentor: Douglas Coulter, PhD
    Years: 2009

    Associate Professor of Neuroscience
    University of Kentucky
  • Lauren A. Beslow, MDMentor: Rebecca Ichord, MD
    Years: 2009 - 2011

    Assistant Professor of Neurology & Pediatrics
    Perelman School of Medicine at Univ. of Pennsylvania/Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Susan K. Faja, PhDMentor: Robert Schultz, PhD
    Years: 2009 - 2010

    Assistant Professor of Pediatrics & Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
    Harvard Medical School


  • Lauren A. Cornew, PhDMentor: Timothy Roberts, PhD
    Years: 2009 - 2012

    Clinical Social Worker/Therapist
    Well-Being Center
  • Robert D. Daber, PhDMentor: Nancy Spinner, PhD
    Years: 2010 - 2011

    Founder & CEO
    Gnosity Consults
  • Adam J. Woods, PhDMentor: Anjan Chatterjee, MD
    Years: 2010 - 2013

    Associate Professor of Clinical & Health Psychology
    Assistant Director, Center for Cognitive Aging & Memory (CAM)
    University of Florida
  • Lucia Peixoto, PhDMentor: Ted Abel, PhD
    Years: 2010 - 2013

    Assistant Professor, Biomedical Sciences
    The Washington State Univ. College of Medical Sciences
  • Jill See, PhDMentor: Akiva Cohen, PhD
    Years: 2010 - 2013

    Scientific Specialist (Medical Writer)
    AlphaBioCom
  • Erin M. Buckley, PhDMentor: Daniel Licht, MD
    Years: 2011 - 2012

    Assistant Professor
    Georgia Tech, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
    Emory University, Dept. of Pediatrics
  • Xilma Ortiz-Gonzalez, MD, PhDMentor: Douglas Wallace, PhD
    Years: 2011 - 2013

    Assistant Professor of Neurology
    Perelman School of Medicine at Univ. of Pennsylvania/Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Nayla N. Chaijale, PhDMentor: Rita Valentino, PhD
    Years: 2012 - 2014

    Associate Medical Director
    Teva Pharmaceuticals
  • Chia-Yen Wu, PhDMentor: Robert Kalb, MD
    Years: 2014 - 2016

    Study Director
    In Vivo Pharmacology
    The Jackson Laboratory
  • Sarah L. Ferri, PhDMentor: Ted Abel, PhD
    Years: 2013 - 2016

    Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
    University of Iowa
  • Laura A. Grafe, PhDMentor: Seema Bhatnagar, PhD
    Years: 2014 - 2016

    Assistant Professor of Psychology
    Bryn Mawr College
  • Mai Dang, MD, PhDMentor: Thomas Curran, PhD
    Years: 2014 - 2017

    Assistant Professor
    Washington University St. Louis
  • Ashley de Marchena, PhDMentor: Robert Schultz, PhD
    Years: 2014 - 2016

    Associate Research Professor
    A.J. Drexel Autism institute
    Drexel University
  • Kimberly Urban, PhDMentor: Rita Valentino, PhD
    Years: 2015 - 2018

    Field Applications Scientist
    Sartorious Stedim Biotech
  • Deborah Kwon, PhDMentor: Joe Zhou, PhD
    Years: 2016 - 2018

    Scientist
    Biogen
  • Linnet Ramos, PhDMentor: John Wolfe, VMD, PhD
    Years: 2016 - 2017

    Scientific Writer
    Lawrence University
  • Shyam Ramachandran, PhDMentor: Beverly Davidson, PhD
    Years: 2017

    Lab Head, Neurodegenerative Diseases
    Sanofi Aventis US, Inc
  • Brittney Gurda, PhD, VMDMentor: John Wolfe, VMD, PhD
    Years: 2018

    Lead Scientist CNS
    Spark Therapeutics
  • Brian Corbett, PhDMentor: Seema Bhatnagar, PhD
    Years: 2015 - 2019

    Assistant Professor
    Rutgers University, Camden
  • Elizabeth Kim, PhDMentor: Bob Schultz, PhD
    Years: 2016 - 2019

    Consultant, Data Science
    Slalom
  • Evelyn Shih, MD, PhDMentor: Mike Robinson, PhD; Todd Kilbaugh, MD
    Years: 2017 - 2020

    Instructor of Neurology
    Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Steven Simmons, PhDMentor: Amelia Eisch, PhD
    Years: 2018 - 2020

    Medical Science Liaison
    Alkermes Inc.
  • Neal Mathew, PhDMentor: Marni Falk, MD
    Years: 2018 - 2021

    Research Associate
    Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
  • David Leib, PhDMentor: Beverly Davidson, PhD
    Years: 2019 - 2022

    Postdoctoral Fellow
    Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Raj Putatunda, PhDMentor: Judy Grinspan, PhD
    Years: 2019 - 2022

    Scientist
    Astellas Gene Therapies
  • Andrew Matamoros, PhDMentor: Yuanquan Song, PhD
    Years: 2020 - 2021

    Cellular & Molecular Scientist
    Passage Bio