Current Fellows

Hannah Davies graduated with highest honors from Brandeis University in May 2022 with a M.Sc. in Neuroscience, a B.Sc. in Neuroscience and Psychology and a minor in Chemistry. During her undergraduate studies, Hannah worked as a research assistant in the Knight’s Laboratory studying the association of various childhood traumas with dissociative symptoms in borderline personality disorder and volunteered as a clinical research assistant at the VA Medical Center in Jamaica Plain studying the impact of exercise on relieving Parkinsonism symptomatology. Hannah performed her graduate research and honors thesis under Dr. Paul DiZio in the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory (AGSOL), where she conducted several experiments examining the mechanisms behind visual balancing after omitting position and/or motion visual cues. Outside of research, Hannah coordinated the “SPECTRUM” volunteer program at Brandeis University, providing families with mentoring, tutoring, and group play opportunities for their children with developmental disabilities.

As a Cohen fellow, Hannah uses eye-tracking technology to assess social visual engagement in all children, both typically developing and those with, and at elevated likelihood of having, autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Working as a research coordinator on the FirstFocus Study, she will be conducting eye-tracking sessions at pediatricians’ offices to determine the effectiveness of a newly FDA-approved portable eye-tracking device on predicting developmental outcomes. Hannah is also researching how ASD recurrence rates in younger siblings change over time with the emergence of new ASD research findings. After finishing the Cohen fellowship, Hannah plans to pursue a MD/PhD to become a physician-scientist.

Jamie Kortanek (they/them) graduated summa cum laude from Carleton College in 2022 with a B.A. in Psychology and distinction in the major. At Carleton, they worked in the Meerts Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, using a rat model to explore neural, hormonal, and experiential factors that affect female sexual function. They also worked in the Primate Cognition Lab at Carleton, exploring the relationship between Alzheimer’s-like neuropathology and cognitive decline in cotton-top tamarins. Additionally, with support from an undergraduate research fellowship, Jamie investigated early developmental profiles in children with 22q11.2 copy number variants within the Jeste Lab at UCLA.

As an Autistic individual from a neurodiverse family, Jamie has a deep passion for supporting neurodivergent individuals in accessing meaningful engagement, navigating daily challenges, and achieving their goals. Jamie is also passionate about advocacy and community-building within Marcus as well as in autistic and neurodivergent communities outside of Marcus. As a Cohen Fellow, Jamie collects neuroimaging and eye-tracking data with infants, school-aged children, and adults. Jamie is currently using functional data analysis to investigate relationships between visual engagement trajectories in early infancy and expressive/receptive language trajectories in toddlerhood for both autistic and non-autistic samples. After their time at Marcus, Jamie intends to become an academic clinician involved in providing Occupational Therapy services as well as conducting research at the intersection of neuroscience & occupational science.

Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, Alp Köksal graduated with highest honors from Brown University in 2022 with a B.A. in Biology and Music. During his undergraduate studies, he worked as a research assistant at the Fallon Lab focusing on the Muscle-Specific Kinase-Bone Morphogenic Protein pathways, specifically focused on developing treatment models inducing adult hippocampal neurogenesis against Alzheimer’s Disease. His work on the characterization of memory, locomotion, and anxiety in a mouse model of increased hippocampal neurogenesis culminated in his honors thesis. He worked with The Miracle Project of New England, which provides after-school and summer activities for children and young adults on the spectrum through music, dance and theater therapy, as a co-actor and an administrative assistant.

As a Cohen Fellow, Alp is working as a research coordinator for the FirstFocus Study, which aims to work with pediatrician’s offices in Atlanta to bring the MAC-ID eye-tracking device into the community and establish it as a diagnostic tool for ASD. Additionally, he is interested in investigating the emergence of social smiling in infants, as well as music cognition in autistic and typically-developing children. After his time at Marcus, Alp would like to pursue a medical degree.

Ainsley Buck graduated with distinction from Duke University in 2022 with a B.S. in Neuroscience and certificate in Child Policy Research. While at Duke, Ainsley was a research assistant in the Duke Early Experience and the Developing Brain (DEED) Lab and a student researcher on the Duke Bass Connections North Carolina Early Childhood Action Plan team focusing on social determinants of health. In the DEED lab, she studied factors associated with aberrant early development using neuroimaging and dyadic head-mounted eye-tracking and conducted her honors thesis on neural correlates of early childhood anxiety. Ainsley also co-led a qualitative study on inequities in early childhood autism services in North Carolina. Outside of research, Ainsley is a Registered Behavior Technician and has worked with toddlers with autism and other developmental delays to provide behavioral therapy.

As a Cohen Fellow, Ainsley conducts eye-tracking research to study social visual engagement in children with and without autism. She is currently engaged in a variety of projects focusing on younger siblings of children with autism, involving recurrence rates, clinician certainty, and dyadic interactions, and caregiver-mediated intervention. Following the fellowship, Ainsley plans to pursue a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology with a focus on improving early identification of and intervention for children with autism.

Dylan Douglas-Brown graduated summa cum laude from Emory University in 2023, completing a B.S. in Psychology and minoring in Quantitative Theory and Methods. While studying, she also worked as an undergraduate research assistant in the Children’s and Mothers’ Emotions Lab (CAMEL), under the mentorship of Dr. Sherryl H. Goodman. She worked with Blaire Pingeton in her first years in the lab, assisting with a meta-analysis of the differential effects of pre- and post-natal depression on a variety of child outcomes. She continued to explore family relationships in the following years, zooming in on the dynamics of early parent-child interaction and development, under the guidance of Elizabeth (Elly) Kushner. She then completed an honors thesis exploring possible interactive effects of caregivers’ postpartum depression and infants’ likelihood of developing autism on infants’ eye-looking in early face-to-face interactions.

During her time as a Cohen Fellow, she hopes to continue to investigate the intricacies of caregiver-infant relationships, with the help of eye-tracking technology. She would like to better understand the reciprocal nature of these early interactions and consider ways in which developmental disruptions might be introduced from either side of the parent-child dyad. Following her time as a fellow at Marcus, she aims to complete a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology, focusing on strategies with which to support children and caregivers simultaneously in early social development.

Dot Perkins graduated from Rhodes College in 2023, earning a BA in Psychology and a BS in Biology with a concentration in Biomedical Sciences; she was awarded Phi Beta Kappa distinction. While at Rhodes, she was a researcher in Dr. Rebecca Klatzkin’s Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, where she investigated stress eating behaviors in young adult women. Within this lab, she regularly administered the Trier Social Stress Test and collected salivary cortisol and self-report emotional state data. She also worked within the Memphis community at a childcare facility where she investigated the development of narrative communication skills through naturalistic social contexts. Dot also worked diligently within the college’s Academic and Learning Resources Department, where she both served as a Supplemental Instructor in Introductory Biology and trained 15 other instructors across various disciplines to continue the university’s tutoring program. Her job experience at Rhodes College fueled her interest in learning differences and education outcomes.

Dot became interested in neurodivergence due to direct experience with her brother, and she is expanding her passion for education and early social skill development through the Samsky Fellowship at Marcus. As a Samsky Fellow, Dot engages in eye tracking research with enrolled preschool students. In addition, she is currently working with the Language and Learning Center to determine verbal and nonverbal communication behaviors of neurotypical children. She collaborates closely with the teachers in the preschool and works every day to help children learn social skills and emotional regulation strategies. Following her time at Marcus, Dot intends to pursue a doctoral program in Counseling or School Psychology, likely focusing on mental health challenges associated with neurodivergence.

Rola Adebogun graduated with high honors from Princeton University in May 2022 with an A.B. degree in Psychology and a minor in Neuroscience. While at Princeton, Rola worked under Dr. Nicole Shelton and Dr. Stacey Sinclair as a research assistant in the Stigma and Social Perception (SSP) Lab. In the SSP Lab, she supported the development and deployment of several studies, many of which investigated how interpersonal interactions translate culturally held biases into individual thoughts and actions. Under the guidance of Dr. Sinclair Rola completed her Junior Paper and Senior Thesis, both of which examined the mechanisms through which implicit racial bias distorts pain perception and leads to broader disparities in infant and maternal health treatment and outcomes. Driven by her passion for health equity, Rola also served as a research intern at the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, where she contributed to the creation of an actionable blueprint for the Nurture NJ Strategic Plan, a multi-pronged, multi-agency initiative targeted at achieving systematic and sustainable improvements to infant and maternal health in New Jersey.

As a joint Clinical Research and Cohen Fellow, Rola learns and administers various assessments used for clinical and diagnostic characterization of autism and uses eye-tracking technology to examine social visual engagement in typically developing children and those with autism. Currently, she is investigating whether characteristics of older siblings with autism are predictive of dimensional outcomes in younger siblings, while integrating eye-tracking data as an index for social visual engagement. Following her time at Marcus, Rola plans to pursue a doctoral degree in either Clinical Psychology or Neuropsychology.

Dori Balser graduated with high honors from Washington University in St. Louis in May 2022 with a B.A. in Psychological and Brain Sciences and a minor in Computer Science. At WashU, Dori was a research assistant in the Laboratory for Child Brain Development (LCBD) where she co-developed EmoCodes, a video coding system for characterizing complex movie stimuli in order to investigate socio-emotional processing in children. Dori continued this line of research in the Cognitive Control and Psychopathology Lab, where, with guidance from Dr. Deanna Barch, Dori conducted her honors thesis investigating neural correlates of emotion processing in pediatric anxiety, using fMRI to examine functional network activation to complex, negative stimuli coded with EmoCodes. This work, along with her summer experiences as a preschool camp counselor and NAMI HelpLine Specialist, shaped Dori’s interest in the intersection of research and clinical practice in child psychology.

As a joint Provence and Cohen Fellow, Dori administers developmental assessments, aids in clinical evaluation, and uses eye-tracking technology to examine social-visual engagement in typically developing children and children with autism. She is also involved with the CBT clinic, where she co-facilitates an anxiety treatment program for school-aged children with autism. Dori is interested in researching treatment effectiveness and outcomes for children with autism and anxiety. After the fellowship, Dori plans to pursue a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology.

Rachel Young graduated magna cum laude from the University of Rochester in 2023 with a B.S. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a B.A. in Psychology with honors in research. As an undergraduate, Rachel worked in Dr. Judith Smetana’s Developmental Psychology lab studying social development and family processes, and in Dr. Loisa Bennetto’s Developmental Neuropsychology lab studying the neurocognitive bases of autism. In her senior year, she pursued an independent honors thesis examining the development of personal choice in autistic and non-autistic adolescents. She collected online survey data from both adolescents and their parents to determine their perceptions of who should have authority in various situations, and if those opinions differed in dyads with autistic adolescents.

As a Clinical Research Fellow, Rachel administers diagnostic assessments to aid in clinical characterization and uses eye-tracking technology to examine social-visual engagement. Rachel’s research interests include continuing to examine the parent-child relationship and how that may differ in autism. She is also interested in looking at sibling dyads, to better understand both autism heritability and the effects of autism on sibling relationships. After her time at Marcus, Rachel plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology, with a focus in Child Neuropsychology.

Cynthia Belfleur, a Miami, Florida native, graduated with high honors from Spelman College in May 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a mental health concentration. Her time at Spelman was spent heavily in the community as a Corella and Bertram Bonner Scholar and Ford First Gen Scholar, working in health and education systems and interning at the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy. She was a research assistant for various labs with varied interests, such as mindfulness and PTSD, and metacognition in flip chemistry classrooms. Cynthia also attended the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, located in Copenhagen, Denmark, to study positive psychology and mental health. After Spelman College, Cynthia worked as an inclusive ELA teacher at a Title I charter middle school in Memphis, TN, through Teach for America.

Cynthia’s current role at the Marcus Autism Center is as the inaugural David Satcher Community Engagement Fellow. Her research at Marcus explores retrospective caregiver experiences of caretakers whose infants have participated in the Autism Center of Excellence (ACE) studies. By interrogating caregiver experiences, she hopes to understand and improve the Center’s relationships with families as they continue to utilize the Center for care. Concurrently, Cynthia is a research fellow at Morehouse School of Medicine working on Project GRIT under the Grady Trauma Project. The project focuses on capacity building, emphasizing resilience in African American women experiencing PTSD. Cynthia also participated in the Georgia Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (GaLEND) at the Georgia State Center for Leadership in Disability. This interdisciplinary training program emphasizes providing coordinated, culturally competent, and family-centered care to children and their families. After completing her time as the Community Engagement Fellow, Cynthia will pursue a Ph.D. in clinical-community psychology, building on her passion for community engagement, education, policy, and mental health outcomes of marginalized communities.

Millena Yohannes graduated from Cornell University in 2022 with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Health Inequity. During her undergraduate studies, she worked as a research assistant on various sociological and psychological projects, such as tracking commonalities across sexual harassment complaints reported to Title IX offices; child development through play; purpose and identity; and community development. She gained exposure to translational research through her work as an RA in the Purpose and Identity Processes lab, working under Drs. Kaylin Ratner and Anthony Burrow to explore the effect of self driven learning on the psychosocial resources of adolescents, as well as exploring how translational research and engaged scholarship can enrich research for participants. Just as foundational to her time at Cornell was Millena’s community engagement experiences. Across all four years and even after graduation, Millena worked closely as a mentor, teacher, board member, and director for youth dance education and literacy program Ballet & Books. She also served as an ambassador for the Einhorn Center of Community Engagement at Cornell, where she worked to communicate tenets of community-engaged learning, the importance of deliberative critical reflection, understanding place and privilege, and mutual learning to the student body.

Millena currently serves as an ACCESS Fellow in Implementation Science. Her research goals at Marcus focus on the sustainability and adaptation of early autism interventions and implementation into community systems, especially around adaptation regarding cultural differences. Her current research examines early intervention use within Babies Can’t Wait, Georgia’s birth-to-three program. She is investigating what factors may predict child skill gain after receiving intervention, such as provider fidelity, barriers to treatment participation, and therapeutic alliance. Upon completing the fellowship, Millena plans to pursue an MD/MPH, remaining committed to community engagement, working with and for marginalized youth, and improving public health from the community level.

Selena Valladares Ortiz, originally from Phoenix, Arizona, graduated from Middlebury College in 2023 with a double major in Psychology and French. While at Middlebury, Selena worked as a JusTalks facilitator to foster conversations on social justice issues across campus. She led group and campus-wide conversations regarding topics such as race, class, and managing microaggressions. Selena also worked as an intern for the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation, where she applied her knowledge of Self-Determination Theory to develop a toolkit that identified motivational factors to engage students in Conflict Transformation in their daily lives. Additionally, Selena was a Mental Health Peer Educator and helped integrate ProjectConnect, an intervention that aims to increase belongingness and well-being, at Middlebury.

As an ACCESS Fellow in Implementation Science, Selena aims to understand the implementation of interventions in families that are typically excluded in research. She is dedicated to actively involving key stakeholders such as patients, caregivers, and community partners in research. Currently, Selena is investigating the delivery of anxiety reduction programs for children with Autism and is researching the outcomes of Early Intervention Programs and access to services to Spanish-speaking families in Georgia. After finishing the fellowship, Selena plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology, continuing her work to improve healthcare accessibility for underserved communities.