MEET THE TEAM
Deena Walker
Personal Pronouns: she/her
Associate Professor in the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience
Dr. Walker received her Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin under the mentorship of Dr. Andrea Gore. Her graduate work focused on how gestational exposure to environmental contaminants affects sex-specific hypothalamic gene expression throughout development and alters the timing of reproductive transitions – both puberty and reproductive senescence. As a postdoc, Dr. Walker built on her expertise on adolescent development to study how adolescent experience reprogrammed the transcriptome and sex-specific anxiety and reward-associated behaviors in adulthood. As an assistant professor, Dr. Walker has combined her interests in neuroendocrinology, molecular biology, adolescent development and sex-specific behavioral reprogramming to develop a research program that is focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying sex-specific programing of the adolescent brain and the functional consequences on behavior.
Outside the lab, Dr. Walker enjoys cooking, practicing yoga, playing with her kids. She is always perfecting her enchiladas recipes.
Thomas Ford
Personal Pronouns: he/him
Postdoctoral Scholar
Thomas received his B.A. in psychology from Youngstown State University and his Ph.D. in Internegative Physiology and Neurobiolgy from Kent State University where he studied early-life stress in Autism Spectrum Disorder. He is interested in the Basolateral Amygdala and the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis and how they’re impacted by adverse conditions during development. Thomas hopes to better understand how our experiences during development can alter the trajectory of our development as thinking, feeling, social beings.
Outside the lab, Thomas enjoys reading, writing, hiking, and his four pets.
Kelly Abshire
Personal Pronouns: she/her
M.D./Ph.D. Canidate
Kelly earned a BS in Psychology and a BSA in Biology from the University of Texas at Austin. Her previous research spanned both preclinical and clinical studies in the fields of behavioral neuroendocrinology, molecular biology, and genetics. Kelly is co-mentored by Deena Walker and Andrey Ryabinin. She is currently interested in exploring the epigenetic landscape underlying substance use disorders and their behavioral sequelae.
Outside the lab, Kelly likes live music, traveling, formula 1, and an odd find at the thrift store.
Other Team Members
Mandee Bell, B.A.
Lab Manager
Theresa Vu B.S.
Research Assistant II
Nhat Nguyen
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Past Team Members
Michael Johnson, Ph.D.
Mason Andrus, Ph.D.
Natasha Fowler, Ph.D.
Cari Berdensky
Allison Milian