Lauren O’Connell, PhD
Assistant Professor at Stanford University
2019 NYSCF – Robertson Neuroscience Investigator
PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Postdoctoral Training, Harvard University
Bio
Dr. O’Connell is an Assistant Professor at Stanford University. She is working to understand the mechanisms underlying how infants and toddlers learn to make appropriate behavioral decisions in different social contexts. Her research uses social tadpoles that make life-or-death decisions based on accurate assessment of social stimuli. This work will inform our understanding of how the neonatal brain regulates social decision-making and has implications for the pathologies behind eating-related psychological disorders and other disorders involving social recognition and communication abnormalities. She completed her postdoctoral studies at Harvard University.