Afik Faerman

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Afik is a clinical neuropsychology postdoctoral scholar and an incoming NIMH T32 fellow. He completed his clinical training at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Baylor College of Medicine and earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology with emphasis in neuropsychology from Palo Alto University. His research centers on modulation of consciousness and its clinical utilities. Currently, Afik is studying the mechanisms theough which interventional approaches such as using hypnosis, psychedelics, and brain stimulation lead to alterations in conscious expereinces, and how they can be leveragaed to improve performance and clinical outcomes. His work has been acknowledged and supported by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Sleep Research Society (SRS), the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (SCEH), the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH), and more. He serves as the current Membership of the American Psychological Association Division 30 (Psychological Hypnosis) and past chair of the Student Committee at the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC).

Azeezat K. Azeez

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Azeez received her Bachelor’s Degree in  Biomedical Engineering at the City College of New York. The majority of her research is in neural systems and signal processing. Her graduate work at New Jersey Institute of Technology was in the alterations in brain morphology, and functional connectivity in Autism, specifically at the intersection of developmental stage, and biological sex.

Now a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford, her work primarily focuses on the resting-state changes that result from Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) as a clinical intervention for psychiatric disorders as well as exploring innovative methodological approaches to characterize these resting-state changes.

Bora Kim

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Kim is a research track resident at UCSF and holds a combined position as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Brain Stimulation Lab at Stanford University.

Her clinical interests revolve around the treatment of resistant conditions in psychiatric disorders, with a particular focus on treatment-resistant depression and suicide intervention. Presently, her research is dedicated to the development of interventions for suicidality and treatment-resistant depression using rapid-acting neuromodulation techniques.Before embarking on her second residency as a research track resident at UCSF and her postdoctoral position at Stanford University, Dr. Kim obtained board certification as a psychiatrist in South Korea. Her previous research endeavors have primarily centered on identifying risk factors associated with suicidal behaviors and formulating suicide prevention models. She has published several papers on these topics. Dr. Kim’s goal is to further advance the field by developing rapid-acting neuromodulation techniques at the Brain Stimulation Lab to address suicidality and alleviate symptoms of treatment-resistant depression. Currently, her primary involvement lies in projects that apply accelerated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat individuals with treatment-resistant bipolar depression and borderline personality disorder.

Chris Austelle

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Chris Austelle joined the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab in July 2023 after completing psychiatry residency at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Chris started working in the Brain Stimulation Lab at MUSC during his undergraduate years at College of Charleston and continued during medical school and residency. During residency, he completed the Diversity in Addiction Research Training (DART) program research track mentored by Dr Mark George. Chris has worked with a variety of brain stimulation modalities, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS), trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS), and low intensity focused ultrasound pulsation (LIFUP). His most recent work focused on modulation of autonomic and stress responses using taVNS. In his free time, Chris likes to read and be outdoors.

Derrick Buchanan

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Buchanan is a PhD Clinical Neuroscientist originally from Ottawa, Canada. Dr. Buchanan’s has worked in the field of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience for seven years, with a particular focus on such conditions as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, major depression disorder, brain injury, and chronic pain.

During his PhD Dr. Buchanan primarily worked in the Neuroscience of Imagination Cognition Emotion Research Lab at Carleton University, and the Neuropsychiatry Lab at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Dr. Buchanan also spent five years in Canada as the Director of Research/Manager of the Brain Clinic at a private medical centre in Ottawa called the Seekers Centre.

In addition to his research background, Dr. Buchanan also has extensive clinical experience working with hundreds of patients using brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation, and neuroimaging such as electroencephalography and event related potentials. Dr. Buchanan was, and remains, interested in using neuroimaging and machine learning to generate models/phenotypes of neuropsychiatric diseases to derive more efficacious individualized brain stimulation treatment protocols.

Dr. Buchanan has also taught nearly a dozen courses at Carleton University since 2016 including 4th year seminars on Neuropsychiatry / Clinical Neuroscience, and the first year introduction to Neuropsychiatry course.

At Stanford, Dr. Buchanan is primarily focussed on running a large scale multisite clinical trial utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging, and transcranial magnetic stimulation to individualize treatment protocols for patients with treatment resistant depression. In his own words, it is Dr. Buchanan’s job to “Make people happy”!

Igor Dorea Bandeira

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Igor D. Bandeira, M.D., is a physician-scientist from Salvador in Brazil working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

He completed his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) at the Federal University of Bahia (Brazil), where he received the prestigious Professor Alfredo Thomé de Britto Award for outstanding graduate scientific research. Part of his medical training took place at the University of Sydney (Australia) through a Science Without Borders Scholarship.

In parallel with his formal graduate training, he worked as a researcher at the university’s Brain and Mind Centre during this period. Dr. Bandeira acquired further clinical experience at the Brazilian Ministry of Health as an attending physician, where he worked for over three years in primary care and mental health interventions within the framework of the national healthcare strategy for vulnerable populations in areas with a shortage of professionals. Furthermore, during the pandemic, Dr. Bandeira worked on the Brazilian frontline in the fight against Covid-19.

In respect of research, he has several years’ experience applying noninvasive brain stimulation techniques in the fields of neurology and psychiatry, and most notably in the treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Since starting his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the Federal University of Bahia in 2019, Dr. Bandeira has also acquired expertise in developing clinical trials to test the efficacy of rapid-acting antidepressants. His work involved using Ketamine and its enantiomers (e.g., Esketamine and Arketamine) for treatment-resistant mental disorders.

Jackob Nimrod Keynan

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Keynan has been investigating the brain mechanisms of stress and depression for the past 10 years, focusing on development of new neuromodulation treatments. He completed his PhD research in cognitive neuroscience at Sagol Brain Institute, Tel-Aviv Medical Center & Tel-Aviv University. Dr. Keynan has extensive experience in human brain imaging techniques including MRI and EEG. During his PhD he led a prospective imaging study with recent trauma survivors, investigating cognitive and brain mechanisms that underly stress recovery vs stress vulnerability. Dr. Keynan further led a simultaneous EEG/fMRI study that resulted in an enriched EEG based neuromodulation protocol that is mobile and cost effective.

Dr. Keynan joined Stanford University as a post-doctoral fellow in 2019 where he continued his research on finding remedy for stress and depression. At the Brain Stimulation Lab Dr. Keynan is overseeing several research projects focusing on facilitating personalized neuromodulation treatment in Psychiatry. Dr. Keynan is the recipient of Fulbright and Rothschild post-doctoral research awards.

Jen Lissemore

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Jen completed her BSc and MSc studying psychology and neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal. Her research at McGill spanned rodent behavioral neuroscience and human neuroimaging. For example, she used positron emission tomography (PET) to study how serotonin and dopamine are involved in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and related learning processes. Jen then completed her PhD in neuroscience at the University of Toronto. Her PhD focused on using non-invasive human neurophysiology techniques (TMS-electromyography and TMS-electroencephalography/EEG) to study the neuropathology and treatment of depression across the lifespan.

Jen has since joined the BSL as a postdoctoral researcher, and is excited to be investigating how new brain stimulation protocols may improve the treatment of OCD, and how biological measures of brain functioning could help to refine and personalize these brain stimulation treatments for OCD. Ultimately, Jen’s mission is to advance how well we understand and treat disorders of ‘stopping’.

John P. Coetzee

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Coetzee completed his BA in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as a volunteer research assistant in a sleep and psychopathology lab. Following his graduation, he worked as a study coordinator at the University of California, San Francisco, where he oversaw research studies investigating the biological bases of depression and other conditions. He received his doctorate in cognitive neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2018. For his doctoral work, under the guidance of Dr. Martin Monti, Dr. Coetzee used functional magnetic resonance imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation to investigate the neural mechanisms that underly deductive reasoning.

Since receiving his doctorate, Dr. Coetzee has been working in the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab, and in the Adamson Brain Stimulation Lab (at the Palo Alto VA), where he is developing innovative treatments for depression, traumatic brain injury, and other psychiatric conditions, making use of transcranial magnetic stimulation, low intensity focused ultrasound pulsation, and other modalities. His primary interests include developing new treatments for undertreated psychiatric conditions, computer tools for evaluating cognition and psychopathology, the biological basis of consciousness, and the biological basis of higher cognitive skills.

Kirsten Cherian

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Cherian has a PhD in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in neuropsychology from Palo Alto University.  Clinical experience includes assessment and cognitive rehabilitation with veterans and pre- and post-surgical assessments of individuals with refractory epilepsy. Her pre-doctoral neuropsychology residency in Toronto focused on memory & neurodegenerative disorders and neuro-oncology. Her doctoral research with the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab examined the cognitive outcomes of a novel neurostimulation protocol in treatment-resistant depression.

Currently, as a postdoctoral fellow with Stanford University, Dr. Cherian is investigating the relationships between cognition and neuromodulation in populations with various psychiatric and neurological disorders including mood disorders, trauma, and acquired brain injuries, as well as seeing patients in the neuropsychiatry clinic. She is also interested in working with populations with neurodegenerative and movement disorders. She has a background in kinesiology, with a focus on long-term sequelae of brain and spinal injuries. She is interested in the interrelationships between mind and body.

Martin Tik

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Tik is a postdoctoral scholar from Vienna, Austria. He has a background in Biological Psychology and Medical Physics and experience in highly interdisciplinary experimental research. During his academic career, he used brain imaging and stimulation methods to gain insights into pathways related to insightful problem solving as well as emotion processing. Through collaboration between the Medical University of Vienna and international partners, he could further identify connectivity changes linked to affective disorders and treatment.

Specifically, Dr. Tik has developed new techniques to better combine Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to measure induced activation changes as they happen.

Dr. Tik recently joined the Stanford Brain Stimulation Laboratory team to translate these research tools into clinical applications aiming to optimize important stimulation parameters for tailoring transcranial magnetic stimulation to individual patient’s needs.

Mia Gholmieh

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Mia is an MD from Lebanon that hopes to pursue her residency in psychiatry in the US. She has started her post doc at the BSL in 2021. At first, she was part of the inpatient study team and worked on recruiting participants that were in the psychiatry unit at the Stanford Hospital. Since then, she has been part of the assessment team and is involved in several studies. Being part of the lab gave her a great opportunity to develop her clinical skills and deepen her passion for psychiatry. During her free time, Mia enjoys travelling and exploring new cultures, exercising, painting, photography, roadtrips to the beach and discovering new cities.

Wiebke Struckmann

Postdoctoral Research Fellow