Behavioral Scientist​

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I am a behavioral scientist who uses randomized experiments and mixed-methods research to study how people perceive, interpret, and respond to biomedical and statistical information. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, I apply behavioral science to genomics, neurotechnologies, and medical decision-making. 

 

My current research focuses on the psychosocial implications of genomics and neurotechnologies, particularly polygenic risk scores and polygenic embryo screening. I lead a K99/R00 award from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) examining the comprehension of polygenic risk scores and serves as a co-investigator on an NHGRI-funded R01 studying polygenic embryo screening. My work examines the cognitive processes through which people represent and reason about genetic influence, and how these representations shape risk perception, emotional responses, medical decisions, and behavior.

 

More broadly, my research examines how people make sense of uncertainty. In particular, I study how continuous and probabilistic information is translated into judgments about categories, causes, identity, and agency. Across my work, I integrate basic cognitive and behavioral science with applied questions in health and ethics. I also uses human-centered design to develop and test behavioral interventions and communication strategies that help people understand complex quantitative and biomedical information. 

 

I earned my PhD in Psychology from the University of Virginia and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics.