Angela Phillips

After spending two years in the lab as a Post-Doctoral Fellow, Angela is now the Director of Digital Clinical Content at Advanced Recovery Systems LLC.

Claudia Tischler

Clinical Research Coordinator

Claudia Kaya Tischler currently is a MSTP student at Baylor College of Medicine. She formerly worked at Stanford Medicine Brain Stimulation Lab with Nolan Williams, MD as a clinical research coordinator. She studied Cognitive Science at the University of California, Berkeley and did her undergraduate thesis in the lab of Richard Ivry, Ph.D.

Dr. Ryan Thomas Ash

Instructor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Ash is a research track resident and T32 research fellow in the Stanford Adult Psychiatry Residency program. He completed his MD-PhD at Baylor College of Medicine, studying learning-associated synaptic plasticity in an animal model of syndromic autism with in vivo 2-photon imaging.

He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, studying changes in neuronal population activity in syndromic autism with 2-photon genetically encoded calcium indicator imaging.

He is currently developing methods to better induce and measure neuroplasticity in humans, using neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial ultrasound stimulation, and EEG steady-state visual-evoked potentials, in collaboration with Dr. Nolan Williams, Professor Anthony Norcia, and Professor Kim Butts Pauly.

His clinical interests include integrated psychodynamic- and mindfulness-based approaches, rTMS, and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

Clive Veerapal

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

Clive received his B.S. in biology with a concentration in systems physiology and a minor in chemistry from San Jose State University. During his undergraduate years he developed an interest in the relationship between psychology and physiology, and how understanding that relationship can lead to effective medical treatments. His future goal is to pursue a medical degree.

Clive is now working on clinical trials for Magnus Medical.

Danielle DeSouza

Scientist, Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Danielle is now the Director or Research at Acacia Mental Health.

Eleanor Cole

Ellie is now Senior Manager of Clinical Research at Magnus Medical.

Fahim Barmak

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

Fahim was a part of the treatment team at the BSL responsible for delivering TMS. He is now doing his Neurology Residency at University of West Virginia.

Heer Amin

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

James Bishop

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Bishop has more than 11 years of experience in pain and imaging research. He joined the Pain, Analgesia, Imaging, and Neurobiology (P.A.I.N.) Group at Harvard Medical School in 2008 where he conducted pre-clinical and clinical projects centered around defining functional imaging (fMRI) biomarkers for analgesic drug efficacy. Dr. Bishop transitioned to the University of Vermont in 2012, where he completed his PhD in Neuroscience, examining the contributions of the thoracolumbar fascia in the generation of musculoskeletal pain by developing a porcine model of low back pain-like pathophysiology. During this time, Dr. Bishop also maintained clinical research interests, simultaneously conducting a clinical trial investigating structural neuroplasticity following cognitive behavioral therapy intervention for chronic musculoskeletal pain.

While a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, Dr. Bishop worked across Psychiatry and Radiology Departments, examining the use of neuromodulation techniques including transcranial magnetic stimulation and focused ultrasound mediated drug delivery to define novel therapeutic approaches to treat chronic pain.

Dr. Bishop is now a Associate Director Medical Science Liaison – Neuroscience for Eli Lilly and Complany

Jassi Pannu

Jassi is currently a resident physician at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Jean-Marie Batail

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Batail was an MD/PhD postdoctoral scholar from Rennes in France. Before arriving at Stanford, he worked in both clinical and research fields. He is now back in France working at a staff psychiatrist at CENTRE HOSPITALIER GUILLAUME REGNIER. Specifically, Dr. Batail led a unit specialized in neuropsychiatric treatment resistant disorders (mainly Depression, Parkinson Disease with psychiatric comorbidities and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) with two residents. In this unit, Dr. Batail utilized and coordinated neuromodulation techniques such as repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Electroconvulsive therapy, and Deep Brain Stimulation. His research focused on biomarkers of poor outcome of depressive disorder using clinical/neuropsychological/brain imaging assessments. In addition, he conducted research on neurofeedback applied to depression. In addition to his involvement in the national coordination of this topic for psychiatric diseases (Neurofeedback section of French Association of Biological Psychiatry and Neuropsychopharmacology), Dr. Batail was actively involved in the development of a new generation of brain-computer interface therapies based on joint bimodal EEG-fMRI neurofeedback. In this project, he led the clinical research applying this new technology to depression. He is very interested in working on biomarkers of neuropsychiatric disorders and the development of personalized-targeting neuromodulation techniques.

Katy Stimpson

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Currently at Palo Alto University.

Mackenzie Mattos

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

Mackenzie is now working at a medical startup company.

Merve Gulser

Clinical Research Coordinator 

Mike Feyder

Academic Staff – Research

Mike completed his PhD at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden as part of the NIH-KI Collaborative Doctoral Program in Neuroscience. He continued his research as a post-doc at the Johns Hopkins Institute of Genetic Medicine. Mike has worked in a variety of academic and industry positions managing large, data-intensive projects. At the BSL, he managed the lab’s data infrastructure.

Nabil Bahjat Helmi Alnajjar

Clinical Research Coordinator Associate

Nabil worked with our treatment team delivering TMS treatments. He now works as a TMS Trainer for Magnus Medical. He is applying for Medical School Residency programs.

Or Keynan

Clinical Research Coordinator 2

Or joined the Brain Stimulation Lab after 10 years of experience in clinical psychology. She graduated first of her class in 2016 from the Tel-Aviv Academic College, Tel-Aviv Israel.

Or is a compassionate and dedicated clinical psychologist with a true passion to promote human mental health and well-being. Or assessed and treated individuals with a variety of mental disorders within outpatient clinics and inpatient units, created treatment and rehabilitation plans for patients, and conducted crisis interventions.

Prior to joining the Brain Stimulation Lab, Or served as a psychotherapist in Israel’s COVID-19 crises intervention services.Or further has industry experience working on innovations to promote mental health.

At the Brain Stimulation Lab Or was conducting clinical evaluations for Major Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, anxiety, and other psychopathologies.

Romina Nejad

Clinical Research Coordinator II

Romina completed her Bachelor of Science degree in neuroscience and molecular biology at the University of Toronto. Her research interests began as an undergraduate student in 2012, when she started as a research student in a neurosurgical lab at the Keenan Research Center in Toronto.

Romina’s research involved studying rare brain tumors such as chordoid meningiomas as well as evaluating the psychological and behavioral effects of traumatic brain injuries on homeless youth. She then completed her Master of Science degree with a focus in neuro-oncology under the guidance of Dr. Gelareh Zadeh at the University of Toronto. Her graduate research focused on multi-platform profiling of neurological tumors and aimed to study the relevance of genetic, molecular and metabolic markers in clinical practice.

With a cross-disciplinary interest in neuroscience, neuro-oncology, and psychiatry, Romina joined the Brain Stimulation Lab in 2018 in hopes of utilizing neuromodulation to improve brain health.

Romina is now working for Neuralink

Sandeep Dronavalli

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

Sandeep was working as a coordinator helping recruitment on BSL clinical trials. He is pursing Residency

Saron Atnafu Hunegnaw

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

Saron was a member of our Imaging Team at The Stanford Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Imaging. She conducted fMRI scans, EEGs, and TMS sessions. Saron joined the lab in August of 2021 after graduating from Vanderbilt University with a BA in Neuroscience. She is now at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) for graduate school. She plans to earn a Master’s Degree in Clinical Research and a PhD in Translational Science. Her long-term goals include running global clinical trials and becoming a professor.

Saron also worked as a research assistant to analyze crime-involved women’s navigation of the COVID-19 pandemic, their trust in the government, and access to resources. She has presented her work at the American Society of Criminology Conference and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.

Sean O’Sullivan

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Sean J. O’Sullivan is an MD/PhD postdoctoral scholar from Philadelphia. His PhD in neuroscience from Thomas Jefferson University focused on the molecular mechanisms of alcohol and opioid withdrawal.

Specifically, he took a systems neuroscience approach to understand the role of the gut microbiome in influencing the negative physical and emotional states that characterize alcohol and opioid withdrawal syndromes.

This work led to the generation of a novel hypothesis—interoceptive neuroinflammatory signaling involving gut dysbiosis and peripheral network decompensation secondary to abstinence in the context of allostasis drives neuroinflammation in the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) and amygdala during alcohol and opioid withdrawal which increases the severity of the symptoms.

He also investigated neuronal subphenotypes in the suprachiasmatic nucleus which is the principle circadian brain region. He further investigated how circadian rhythms affect gene expression in the NTS and amygdala.

At the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab, Dr. O’Sullivan was leading a study researching the effects of TMS on a peripheral biomarker of depression.

Dr. O’sullivan is now in a Psychiatry Residency at UT Austin.

TJ Ford

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

TJ graduated with Highest Honors in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley. While an undergraduate, she studied gene repair mechanisms in the School of Public Health, held a Fung Fellowship within the College of Engineering, attended Yale University’s Sherwin B. Nuland Institute at the Center for Interdisciplinary Bioethics, and completed the work for her Honors Thesis on temporal attention at UCSF’s Neuroscape under advisors Dr. Ted Zanto and Dr. Mark D’esposito. Upon graduation, TJ joined the Abortion Freedom Partnership as the principal product manager for the non-profit, creating and implementing mutual aid tools and software to increase equitable access to critical reproductive healthcare. TJ then joined the Brain Stimulation Lab at Stanford University’s School of Medicine in 2021 as an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator working hands-on to treat participants, explore biomarkers of neuromodulation treatment efficacy, and research cognitive, clinical, and neural outcomes of rapid-acting interventions for a range of psychiatric disorders. In her spare time, TJ loves leisurely reading in the sun (responsibly with adequate SPF), being in bodies of water, and spending time with her incredible friends.

TJ now works at Magnus Medical as a Field Clinical Engineer.

Tram Dinh

MRI Tech/ LVN

Currently at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH).

Vivek Buch

Clinical Assistant Professor, Neurosurgery

Dr. Buch is a neurosurgeon with fellowship training in epilepsy, functional, and minimally invasive neurosurgery. He is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery of Stanford University School of Medicine.

Dr. Buch focuses his expertise on the open and minimally invasive treatment of epilepsy, brain disorders, spinal injury and disease, and other conditions. For each patient, he develops a personalized care plan that is designed to be both comprehensive and compassionate.

Dr. Buch has conducted extensive research. His interests include restorative network engineering for intellectual and cognitive disability, personalized network-targeting for deep brain stimulation and MRI guided focused ultrasound, and focused ultrasound-mediated delivery mechanisms for gene, stem cell, and molecular therapies. He also is developing technological innovations such as the use of holographic mixed reality and artificial intelligence for visualization and guidance to improve minimally invasive neurosurgical procedures.

He has co-authored articles on his research discoveries in the Annals of Surgery, Frontiers in Neuroscience, Epilepsia, Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Surgical Innovation, Journal of Neurosurgery, and many other journals. Articles focus on developing novel network control theory applications to human brain functions and new techniques and technologies to enhance neurosurgical effectiveness and patient outcomes.

He is a contributor to the journals Surgical Innovation and Brain Sciences. He also has co-authored chapters in the books Neurosurgical Atlas, Operative Techniques in Epilepsy Surgery, Deep Brain Stimulation, and The Encyclopedia of Medical Robotics.

Dr. Buch has presented the findings of his research at the national conferences of numerous professional associations. Among them are the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Society for Neuroscience, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine. Topics include understanding network mechanisms of cognitive control and advances in the use of augmented reality technology to enhance neurosurgical approaches.

For his clinical, research, and academic achievements. Dr. Buch has earned many honors. He has won awards from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, American Roentgen Ray Society, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Buch is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, American Association of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, and Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society.

He holds patents on artificial intelligence systems designed to help guide surgery and on neural control signals for behavioral modification therapy.

Xiaoqian Xiao

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Xiaoqian Xiao is a PhD in cognitive neuroscience and majored in psychology for BS. She was trained using fMRI data to detect the neural representations related to effective learning (e.g. space learning, variable encoding), during which she generated experiment design to optimize the single trial estimate and also obtained item level neural representations separated during encoding phase and retrieval phase. Her research interest is exploring data, both behavioral and neural,  and detecting best features to build tools helping objective diagnoses for clinical practice.

Zui Narita

Postdoctoral Research Fellow