Lugo Lab

Parinaz is a Ph.D. student in Neuroscience at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam working towards a MSC degree in Electrical engineering with emphasis on signal processing. She has worked with brain imaging modalities (EEG, dMRI, MRI, and fMRI) since 2012, her expertise is in applying quantitative techniques to break down structural and functional brain imaging data and study functional and structural networks/connectivity. Her Ph.D. research is focused on bimanual coordination in older adults and finding the relationship between their poor motor performance, and functional and structural connectivity of the brain in the motor regions. Parinaz joined the Lugo Lab in May 2022 to work on infant MRIs, and would like to continue her research in different brain functional and structural disorders and neurodegeneration diseases.

Jaimie Lee holds a BA in both Psychology and Human Health from Emory University. Prior to joining the Lugo Lab, she was a research aide at the Center for Maternal Substance Abuse and Child Development (MSACD), where she was involved in the data collection and entry for the Adult Health Study, which examined the long-term effects of maternal substance use on fetus’ neurobehavioral and health outcomes. Jaimie’s research interests lie in how the prenatal environment impacts one’s mental and physical health and how these effects can last throughout the lifespan and across generations. She seeks to bring attention to ethnic and racial minorities, who are often underrepresented in research and science. In addition to her research work, Jaimie volunteers as a Crisis Counselor at Crisis Text Line to bring people in distress to a calmer state and offer emotional support through coping skills and resources. She strives to become a clinical psychologist involved in both research and clinical work.

Farah Mahmud, Ph.D., is a T32 postdoctoral research fellow working under the mentorship of Dr. Claudia Lugo-Candelas. She received a B.A. in neuroscience from Wellesley College, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Montclair State University in 2024, and she completed her predoctoral clinical internship at Boston Children's Hospital. Her dissertation research focused on symptoms and mechanisms of anxiety specific to childhood autism. Currently, she is interested in investigating protective environmental factors in childhood that support positive mental health and development in neurodivergent youth. Overall, Farah is passionate about using culturally and neurodiversity affirming frameworks in her research and clinical work to help improve long-term outcomes of youth and families from historically marginalized backgrounds.

Pearl Ayiku is a second-year Master’s Student from Teachers College, Columbia University studying Clinical Psychology. She holds a B.S. in Psychology with minors in Counselor Education and Music from the University of South Carolina. She is particularly interested in examining the importance of community spaces and the environmental determinants of perinatal health in marginalized communities. Outside the lab, she enjoys reading, cooking, thrifting, and crafting.

Lucia Kouri is a research volunteer at the Lugo Lab and a junior at Barnard College, where she is pursuing a degree in psychology. Broadly, she is interested in prenatal and early-life environmental risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders and psychopathologies, with a focus on disorders where inhibitory control processes — including behavioral inhibitory control, attentional control, and emotional regulation— are implicated. Prior to joining the Lugo Lab, Lucia was an undergraduate research assistant at the Barnard College Center for the Study of Child Development, studying the onset and developmental trajectory of visual, spatial, and epistemological perspective-taking skills in early childhood. She also contributed to research at Columbia University’s Social and Moral Cognition Lab, studying the development of moral decision-making in young children. Additionally, she worked at the University of Chicago’s Goldin-Meadow Lab, using functional near-infrared spectroscopy to study the role of non-verbal communication (specifically gesture) in mathematical learning. In the future, Lucia hopes to attend graduate school, with the goal of contributing to research on early risk factors and identification of neurodevelopmental and mental disorders.

Nyla Pruitt is a research volunteer at the Lugo Lab. She is currently a sophomore at Barnard College, Columbia University studying Africana Studies and Neuroscience and Behavior. Before joining the Lugo Lab, she participated in the Pediatric Student Research Program at Washington University in St. Louis, where she investigated the association of socioeconomic status with fetal brain volume in cases of Congenital Heart Disease. She is passionate about public health and health disparities, aspiring to pursue a Ph.D and conduct research that drives equitable interventions and policy changes.