Mentor Pool

Estefania Azevedo, Ph.D.

Dr. Azevedo’s Laboratory seeks to understand how emotional experiences, such as trauma or reward, are processed and integrated in the brain. Our main goal is to determine the circuit, cellular and molecular mechanisms by which emotions control behavior and physiology. Ultimately, we aim to understand and define novel molecular targets involved in psychiatric diseases, such as Eating Disorders, PTSD, and Anxiety. Using the mouse limbic system as our primary model, our laboratory employs a combination of behavioral, molecular, anatomical, and imaging tools.

Arjun Bharioke, Ph.D.

Dr. Bharioke's lab focuses on looking at neuronal activity throughout the lifespan. They mostly use two-photon imaging to study cortical activity both in living embryos (during development) and in adult mice. Their goals are to understand (1) how neurons generate the cognitive functions that serve to define who we are, and (2) how to manipulate that activity in order to correct defects associated with neurological disorders. His background is in both computational and experimental neuroscience, and the lab uses methods from both those angles, building models of neuronal circuits based on experimental data.

Amber Jarnecke, Ph.D.

Dr. Jarnecke believes that people’s relationships and social connectedness are key to well-being; thus, her primary research focuses on the ways that interpersonal relationships affect recovery from substance use and after trauma. She is currently co-leading a community-based research study that is developing and testing a digital tool to better detect and connect individuals with resources for intimate partner violence and co-occurring mental health conditions in substance use treatment settings. She is also working on research to better understand the neurobiology underlying alcohol use disorder and PTSD and disseminate treatments that help patients heal from substance use and PTSD.

Xingbao Li, M.D., MSCR

Dr. Li has one NIH project and one VA project that are currently ongoing. Dr. Li's lab uses fMRI to guide TMS for smoking cessation. Their interest areas include brain stimulation and brain imaging in tobacco use disorder. 

Marcelo López, Ph.D.

Dr. Lopez's research interests are the effect of stress and other environmental factors on alcohol intake and relapse, and the role of learning in the development of addictive behaviors. He is conducting studies to evaluate the effect of stress at different developmental stages on voluntary alcohol intake. Dr. Lopez conducts behavioral pharmacology studies utilizing numerous rodent models of alcohol exposure. This includes studying alcohol dependence and relapse drinking involving a mouse model of chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) exposure that produces escalation of drinking. This model has been used to characterize genetic, neurobiological, and behavioral (motivational) factors that influence alcohol self-administration including measures of relapse, tolerance, and behavioral flexibility.

Erin McClure, Ph.D.

Dr. Erin A. McClure is a behavioral psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. McClure earned her B.S. in Psychology and Neuroscience from Allegheny College and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Florida. The overarching goal of Dr. McClure’s program of research is broadly focused on reducing the harmful impact of cannabis and tobacco/nicotine product use across the lifespan. Her research has focused on refining and evaluating strategies to improve long-term abstinence and prevent relapse, as well as pursuing harm reduction strategies to minimize the adverse impact of substance use; all utilizing technology to improve remote procedures and data quality, as well as to increase reach and accessibility.

James Prisciandaro, Ph.D.

Dr. Prisciandaro's research focuses on individuals with Bipolar Disorder and Substance Use Disorder. His lab work is primarily in brain imaging and neuropsychopharmacology.

Jennifer Rinker, Ph.D.

The Rinker Lab is a preclinical, basic science lab that explores the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie alcohol dependence and stress-related disorders using a murine model of excessive alcohol consumption that emulates aspects of this human medical condition of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). The lab has several main projects that focus on stress system dysregulation in alcohol dependence, cortical mechanisms of excessive alcohol drinking, and thalamic regulation of reward seeking. We utilize in vivo calcium imaging to track neural activity during alcohol drinking and behavioral tasks, as well as chemo- and optogenetic approaches to manipulate neural activity, and basic wet lab techniques, like immunohistochemistry, western immunoblotting, and slice electrophysiology. The overall goal of the lab is to help understand the etiology of AUD and identify new pharmacotherapeutics targets for drug development.

Tracy Smith, Ph.D.

The goal of Dr. Smith’s research is to reduce the harms associated with smoking, with a focus on regulatory science. One arm of her research has focused on tobacco regulations that can reduce the appeal and addictiveness of combustible tobacco — the most harmful form of tobacco. This includes a decade of research related to reducing the nicotine level within cigarettes to minimally addictive levels, and new research investigating the impact of banning menthol within cigarettes. Another arm of Dr. Smith’s research focuses on the impact of non-combustible tobacco products on public health, including both their potential to serve as harm reduction tools for current smokers and their potential to increase harm for youth and non-smokers who initiate tobacco use with these products. Dr. Smith is currently conducting several trials that test the impact of e-cigarettes on smoking behavior and smoking abstinence among current smokers. Dr. Smith is passionate about mentoring and works with trainees at a variety of levels, including high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, psychology interns, and postdoctoral fellows.

Allison Wilkerson, Ph.D., DBSM

Dr. Allison Wilkerson is an Associate Professor in the Sleep, Mood, and Anxiety Research and Treatment (SMART) Division within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and diplomat in behavioral sleep medicine (DBSM). Her program of research is focused on: 1) understanding the impact of sleep health in underserved populations and using this knowledge to develop tailored sleep interventions; 2) leveraging technology to enhance dissemination of evidence-based assessment and treatment of sleep and mental health disorders, which includes the development and launch of online provider-facing trainings, virtual patients for practice following training, and patient facing mobile applications.