Francesca M. Filbey, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Filbey is the Bert Moore Endowed Chair and Professor at the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. Her studies focus on determining the neurobiological mechanisms of reward system dysfunction. Dr. Filbey is the author of Neuroscience of Addiction (2019, Cambridge University Press). Dr. Filbey received her PhD at King’s College London, United Kingdom and completed her post-doctoral training at the NIH.
Tracy Brown
Doctoral Student
Tracy is a student in UT Dallas’s Ph.D. Psychology program. He has a Master of Science in Applied Psychology from Tarleton State University. His research experience includes understanding how chronic pain affects the neural activity in the brain and decision-making using electroencephalograms and decision-making tasks. Tracy works in the Filbey lab and investigates how chronic pain and cannabis use affects sleep quality, decision making, and neural activity.
Carson Burke
Lab Coordinator
Carson began working as the Filbey Lab’s Coordinator after he received a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology from the University of Texas at Dallas in May 2022. He is very grateful to be a member of the Filbey Lab team. His research interests include neuropharmacology and the development of novel psychiatric treatment options. In his spare time, Carson enjoys reading, cooking and spending time with his girlfriend.
Sandra Field
Neuroimaging Data Specialist
Sandra is a research assistant for the Filbey Lab specializing in neuroimaging data analysis. She holds a BS in Neuroscience with a minor in Psychology from UTD, and is currently working on her Master’s thesis in Data Science at Northwestern University. She has a professional background as a Unix administrator and in data quality. She loves to learn about addiction, trauma, and learning and memory dynamics. Sandra is considering the pursuit of a PhD as a step towards her long-term professional goal of advancing medical AI solutions.
Che Liu
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Che is a postdoctoral research associate for the Filbey Lab. She received her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Miami, where she investigated brain structure, function, and cerebral blood flow as well as their associations with sleep quality and cognitive performance in the aging brain. Her expertise lies in medical image and signal processing and analysis. She has experience with various neuroimaging techniques including MRI (structural, fMRI, ASL, FLAIR, phase contrast), PET, and CT. Her research interest is to investigate brain structure and function in addiction, psychological, and neurological disorders and identify neuroimaging biomarkers.
Master’s Students
Sreoshi Chowdhury
Masters Student
Sreoshi is a Master of Science student in the Psychology program. She earned her Bachelor of Science double majoring in Psychology and Speech, Language, & Hearing Science at The University of Texas at Dallas in December 2021. She is currently working on the taVNS project in the Filbey Lab. She has experience working in the healthcare field and her research interests lie in understanding effects of addiction and substance abuse on mental health to help improve therapeutic interventions for treatments. After completing her Master’s degree, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. and practice as a clinician. She enjoys reading novels and taking care of her plants.
Avery Davis
Masters Student
Avery is a graduate research assistant on the TEAMM project within the Filbey Lab. Avery graduated with a B.S. in Psychology in May 2023, earning Collegium V honors from UT Dallas. Throughout her undergraduate journey, she accumulated valuable experience in research, nurturing her ambition to pursue a Ph.D. and embark on a career as a professor. She returned to UT Dallas to begin her M.S. In Neuroscience and Cognition to further foster her goals. Her research interests include understanding the risk factors associated with addiction development and exploring the impact of substance abuse on both the brain and cognition. In her leisure time, she finds enjoys playing music, reading, and playing video games.
Sam Poelker-Wells
Masters Student
Sam is a graduate student in the Applied Cognition and Neuroscience M.S. program at UT-Dallas. His academic and research experience encompasses the domains of physiology and cognitive neuroscience. Presently, he is an intern in the Filbey Lab where he leads the TEAMM study. Post-graduation, Sam harbors aspirations to embark on an academic and professional journey dedicated to the investigation and application of clinical tools and practices with the aim of enhancing human health. In his spare time, he enjoys engaging in exercise and reading books about philosophy, biology, and psychology.
Undergraduate students
Ivani Atre
Undergraduate Student
Ivani is an undergraduate student at UT Dallas who is majoring in Cognitive Science with a minor in Philosophy. She is currently a student intern for the Neuroanalytics team. Following undergrad, Ivani hopes to attend graduate school for Cognitive Psychology to pursue brain-computer interface research. Her research interests lie in cognition, memory, and mood disorders. In her free time, you can find her reading & writing poetry or working as a barista.
Thamidu Bulathsinhala
Undergraduate Student
Thamidu is currently a junior and Psychology major at the University of Texas at Dallas. Currently, he is an intern on the Filbey Lab’s TaVNS study and hopes to learn more about the effects of addiction. Thamidu hopes to pursue a career in medicine. Other than research, he enjoys cooking, writing, volunteering, and playing music.
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Maryam Imam
Undergraduate Student
Maryam is a 2nd year undergraduate at UT Dallas majoring in Neuroscience. She is currently a research assistant in the TEAMM study. Her research interests include the dopaminergic reward system and how substance use affects the system. In the future, Maryam hopes to attend Medical school and become a physician to improve health outcomes in underserved communities. In her free time, Maryam enjoys reading, volunteering, traveling, and baking.
Alyssa Leazure
Undergraduate Student
Alyssa is a 3rd year undergraduate student majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Music and Asian studies. She is an intern assisting with the TaVNS studies. Her primary research interest is the affect that substance abuse and recreational drugs has on cognition, sleep and mental disorders. She plays in the UTD string orchestra and her hobbies include playing cello and guitar.
Sumin Lee
Undergraduate Student
My name is Sumin Lee, and I am a junior Neuroscience major at UTD who is part of the SLEEP Study. I am interested in exploring the brain pathology, and how disturbances such as cannabis, can damage or interrupt certain pathways. As a pre-med, my goal is to make it into medical school to become a physician. I love to travel, write stories, and listen to music!
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