Principal Investigator:
Darlene Kertes, PhD, research program focuses on risk and protective factors in the social environment and how they shape behavioral, neurobiological, and epigenetic outcomes from prenatal life through early adulthood. Dr. Kertes is the Principal Investigator of the lab.
Graduate Students:
Niti Contractor is interested in the effects of maternal stress and trauma and children’s health, with a special focus on health disparities. Her research centers on the role of maltreatment in infancy and early childhood and its impact on behavioral development and delay, hair cortisol concentrations, and telomere length. Niti is enrolled in the PhD program in Developmental Psychology.
Liz Amelia Karolina Martinez Margolles is interested in developmental neuroscience and the impact of environmental factors on development. Her research centers on the role of risk and protective factors in schools and neighborhoods with externalizing behavioral problems and telomere length. Liz is enrolled in the PhD program in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience.
Ariana Burga has research interests at the intersection of human development, epigenetics, and neuroscience. Her research centers on the impacts and patterns exposure to violence and other early life stressors over time on epigenetic variation in DNA methylation. Ariana is enrolled in the Dual Specialization Program in Developmental Psychology and Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience.
Ao Tang focuses on the role epigenetics in mental health, with a particular interest on how DNA methylation profiles and is associated with longitudinal trajectories of depression in adolescence and young adulthood. Ao is enrolled in the PhD program in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience.
Current Undergraduate Research Assistants:
Cassandra Vyazmensky
Lauren Silcock
Anna Meltsaivia
Former Graduate Students
Former graduate students have gone on to both academic and industry positions.
John Leri, PhD. Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Texas at Austin
Daniel Fisher, PhD. Assistant Professor, Gulf Coast State College
Ke Duan, M.S. Researcher, Kingsoft
Shubam Sharma, PhD. Assistant Professor, Kennesaw State University
Jingwen Liu, PhD. Research Associate, TD1Exchange
Hayley Kamin, PhD. Science Writer, National Institute of Mental Health
Natalie Hadad, PhD. Associate Professor, Sante Fe University
Former Undergraduate Research Assistants Students:
Dr. Kertes has mentored 90+ undergraduate research assistants who have gone on to pursue medical school, graduate school, and industry positions. Examples of where former Kertes Lab members have advanced to include:
Emory University Medical School
University of Columbia Medical School
University of Puerto Rico Medical School
University of Minnesota PhD program in Counseling Psychology
SUNY Stony Brook PhD Program in Clinical Psychology
University of Iowa PhD Program in Clinical Neuropsychology
Washington & Lee University School of Law
Vanderbilt University School of Law
University of Florida Masters in Public Health – Epidemiology
University of Florida Masters of Education
Federal Bureau of Investigations
VISTA Center for Leadership and Service