Senior Scientist
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Brian Levine, Ph.D., C.Psych., ABPP-cnSenior Scientist, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences
Professor of Psychology and Medicine (Neurology), University of Toronto Dr. Brian Levine obtained his Ph.D. in 1991 from the University of South Florida and completed fellowships in clinical neuropsychology at McLean Hospital in Boston and cognitive neuroscience at the Rotman Research Institute. He has published over 150 peer reviewed scientific articles and chapters on memory, frontal lobe function, traumatic brain injury, aging, dementia, and rehabilitation as well as Mind and the Frontal Lobes: Cognition, Behavior, and Brain Imaging (2012, Oxford University Press) and Goal Management Training® intervention for executive deficits (with Ian Robertson and Tom Manly). He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and Association for Psychological Science and recipient of the 2015 International Neuropsychological Society's Benton award for mid-career research achievement. His research has been funded by federal agencies (CIHR, NIH) continuously for the past 20 years. Dr. Levine, a board-certified neuropsychologist, is clinically active, providing expert opinions in cases involving brain injury, dementia, and psychiatric disorders. Dr. Levine is frequently called upon to communicate research findings to health professionals and the general public. He has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBC radio, USA Today, Psychology Today, Scientific American Mind, Wired, New York Magazine, and Discovery Health. |
Postdoctoral Fellows
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Lynn Zhu, Ph.D.I am an epidemiologist and gerontologist by training, and my interests are in health services and technology-based interventions for older adults. I joined Baycrest to work with Drs. Levine, Angela Troyer and Susan Vendermorris on evaluating the online versions of the Goal Management Training and the Memory and Aging programs. We also are scaling up the in-person and online delivery of these programs, and exploring new delivery methods so more people can benefit from them. Before Baycrest, I was at the Women's College Hospital researching medication prescribing for older adults, and dementia experiences using social media data. During that time, I completed my PhD dissertation in Epidemiology, focusing on evaluating wearable sensors in older adults with Parkinson's disease (Western University;https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4877/). I also completed a MSc. in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Health & Aging stream, Western University), and HBSc. in Neurosciences, Integrative Biology and Health Studies (University of Toronto). For fun, I like longboarding, keeping up with current affairs, and laughing with family and friends.
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Moriah Sokolowski, Ph.D.I completed my PhD at the University of Western Ontario in 2019, studying how the human brain supports numerical and mathematical thinking across developmental time. Uncovering cognitive and neural underpinnings of mathematical thinking holds promise for understanding why particular individuals enter and succeed in careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In this uncertain global economy, STEM skills are fundamental to Canada’s global competitiveness, economic growth, and overall standard of living.Although progress has been made in linking math ability to success in STEM careers, the many other traits associated with an individual’s career choice have been largely ignored. I am interested in uncovering what factors, beyond math ability, influence whether a person enters and succeeds in a STEM career. During my post-doc, I intend to build on my previous work by exploring specific cognitive and neural factors that predict whether an individual will have a successful career in a STEM discipline.Currently, I am exploring whether there is a behavioural and/or neural trade-off between trait abilities in episodic autobiographical memory and non-episodic strategic reasoning and identifying whether individual differences in these trait abilities relate to having a STEM occupation. Outside of the lab, I enjoy travelling, trying new fitness classes around the city, and reading fiction while hanging out on the couch with my cat.
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Graduate Students
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Carina FanI graduated from McGill university with a B.Sc. in Honours Psychology. At McGill, I worked on two main research projects: a behavioural and neuroimaging study investigating age-related changes to autobiographical memory and open-ended problem solving abilities, and a behavioural study examining the contributions of episodic memory processes to clinical decision making (i.e., diagnoses). Throughout high school and undergrad, I also spent several summers conducting research in a cerebrovascular physiology lab at the University of Calgary, studying the effects of aerobic exercise on brain blood flow and cognitive function in older adults. These combined experiences have led to a broad interest in how memory functions in the real world and contributes to other cognitive processes, and in how all this changes with age — and these are interests that I hope to explore during my graduate studies in the Levine Lab. Outside of research, I love reading, running, playing and listening to music, and finding obscure activities to explore around the city!
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Stephanie Simpson
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Andreja Stajduhar
I graduated from York University with a Specialized Honours BA in Psychology. During my undergrad, I was involved in a vision and perception lab where I worked on a range of projects, including an fMRI project that explored the representational gradient for objects along the dorsal and ventral visual streams in both younger and older adults. My undergraduate thesis was focused on understanding how we process partially occluded faces and how this processing style is affected under various conditions (partial occlusion, face inversion, etc.) in different populations. I am very excited to join the Levine Lab as a ph.D. student in Fall 2021 and I hope to continue to use technologies like fMRI to explore hippocampal functional connectivity as it relates to autobiographical memory. Outside of the lab, I love to read, run, listen to music and hang out with my friends!
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Annalise LaPlumeMy research builds on my background in Cognitive Psychology and Quantitative Methods, to model how complex cognitive abilities of executive functions and memory change with age over the adult lifespan. I also study how trajectories vary due to individual differences from modifiable risk factors for dementia, such as hypertension, traumatic brain injury, and depression. I examine these lifespan trajectories using changepoint modelling and online versions of neuropsychological tasks (the Cogniciti Brain Health Assessment, designed by Dr Levine and other scientists at Baycrest).
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Research Assistants
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Yushu WangI graduated from McGill University with a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in Neuroscience. During my undergraduate studies I was part of a psycholinguistic lab where I've investigated the attentional effects of emotional words on French bilingual speakers during reading. For my graduate thesis my research was focused on the visual system and the nonlinear visual processing of contrast and colour information. Now, I am very excited to be working in the Levine lab as a technical research assistant and explore memory impairment and cognitive function in various populations. Some of my hobbies outside of the lab include drawing, photography, and dance.
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Divya MistryI am a research assistant for the Kunin-Lunenfeld Centre for Applied Research and Evaluation (KL-CARE) at Baycrest, and I am currently collaborating with the Levine Lab on clinical research and administrative tasks that involve evaluating, improving, and commercializing the online version of Goal Management Training. I graduated from Western University with a BSc. HSpec. in Psychology and a minor in Health Sciences. I completed my honors thesis with Dr. Paul Frewen and continued working with him as an RA at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry in the Department of Psychiatry. Our work advocated a trauma-informed care approach to integrating virtual reality technology with adjunctive psychotherapies. Outside of work I enjoy exploring the outdoors, trying new restaurants with friends, tending to my houseplants, and cooking.
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Karen JosephI am a research assistant with the Kunin-Lunenfeld Centre for Applied Research and Evaluation (KL-CARE) at Baycrest, and I am currently providing research and administrative support to the Levine Lab team. I graduated from McMaster University with an Honours BSc. degree in Life Sciences, as well as double minors in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, and Health, Aging & Society. I completed my undergraduate thesis with Dr. Margaret McKinnon at St Joseph’s Healthcare, Mood Disorders Lab. My research experience include working with the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, Participant Database Management team, and supporting healthcare professionals, researchers, students, and commercial partners with various clinical, applied, and evaluative research at KL-CARE. In my spare time I enjoy hiking, listening to podcasts, and teaching or performing Bollywood dance.
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Summer Students
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Catherine LeI am currently pursuing my Honours B. Sc. in Psychology and Human Biology at the University of Toronto. In my undergraduate years, I became interested in research, especially looking at memory, psychiatric disorders and their physiological bases. Working in cognitive neuroscience and social psychology labs on campus has provided me with the opportunity to further explore my academic interests. Now, at the Levine Lab, my primary duties as a summer student include participant recruitment and assisting in various studies investigating episodic autobiographical memory. When not in the lab, I can be found frequenting the library, painting, or watching true crime documentaries!
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Tolu Faromika
I'm in my final year of an Honours B. Sc. in Psychology at the University of Toronto. I'm also minoring in Biomedical Ethics because of my interest in the rules of conduct that exist in clinical settings. I've always been interested in psychological research, and I've had the opportunity to assist in labs such as the UTSC Infant Lab and the Schachar Crosbie Lab at the Hospital for Sick Children. In these labs, I've been exposed to research concerning motor development in children as well as the factors involved in neurodevelopmental disorders in adolescents, respectively. I'm excited to be part of the Levine Lab because of my personal research interest in memory and memory deficits. I also plan to complete a thesis this year on the role of spatial contexts on memory integration/separation. In my spare time, I can be found hosting the BrainCore Podcast, painting, or playing a few different instruments!
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