CCBBI's Advancing Distinction in NeuroImaging Research program provides paid research opportunities, mentorship, and professional development for undergraduate students interested in human cognitive, clinical, developmental, and social neuroscience.
Each spring, CCBBI welcomes two new scholars as we celebrate the achievements of graduating scholars.
Declan Alford
Declan successfully defended his undergraduate thesis, Theory of Mind Task Performance in Critical Heart Disease, on April 30, 2026. His project examined whether critical congenital heart disease affects theory of mind, or the ability to understand social situations and other people's feelings.
Declan found that children with cCHD performed significantly worse on both processing speed and theory of mind tasks, and that these abilities were positively correlated. He will take a gap year to gain direct clinical experience with hospitalized youth before applying to medical school.
Sophie Jeng
Sophie presented in the Pediatric Brain Disorders session at the International Neuropsychological Society Annual Meeting and defended her undergraduate thesis, Cross-conditional Compensatory Functional Activation in Default-Mode Network and Salience Network in Executive Functioning.
In July, Sophie will begin a full-time Clinical Research Coordinator position with Dr. Eric Nelson at Nationwide Children's Hospital. She plans to apply to graduate school in clinical neuropsychology.
Meet Tanisha Angoth
Tanisha is a second-year Behavioral Neuroscience major on the pre-med track. She hopes to build a career that bridges neuroscience research and patient care, with interests in neuroimaging, early detection, diagnosis, and pharmacological interventions.
Meet Abeeku Kittoe
Abeeku is a third-year Psychology major on a pre-med track. He is interested in how neuroimaging research can improve patient care for mental health and neurological illnesses, and he plans to specialize in psychiatry.