top of page
Integrative Mental Health Laboratory, the IMHL
Laramie Duncan, PhD
​
Dr. Duncan is the PI of the Integrative Mental Health Laboratory (Duncan Lab) and is an Assistant Professor at Stanford in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. With a joint PhD in neuroscience and clinical psychology, Dr. Duncan's long term goal is to discover mechanisms underlying mental health problems, especially schizophrenia and PTSD. Dr. Duncan undertook extensive postdoctoral training in statistical genetics and she leads genomic analyses for international consortia. Projects include both primary discovery efforts and translational analyses to yield mechanistic targets for novel therapeutics.
Shaga Navabpour, PhD
​
Dr. Navabpour is a postdoctoral fellow at the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences department and a Brain Resilience Fellow at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Trained in translational biology with deep expertise in neuroscience, her work focuses on the molecular and circuit mechanisms of fear memory and the genetic underpinnings of psychiatric disorders. She combines approaches from epigenomics, chromatin biology, and single-cell multi-omic analysis to investigate how gene regulation shapes brain development and contributes to conditions such as schizophrenia, PTSD, and autism. Outside the lab, she enjoys photography, theatre, movies, and spending time with her family and plants
Hadar Segal-Gavish, MD, PhD
​
Hadar is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Integrative Mental Health Laboratory at Stanford University. She earned her MD and PhD in Biological Psychiatry from Tel Aviv University and completed her Child and Adolescent Psychiatry residency at Sheba Medical Center in Israel. During residency, she also completed a year-long program in Genomics and Biomedical Informatics. Her PhD research focused on regenerative therapeutic strategies in mouse models of autism and schizophrenia. Her current research interests include uncovering the biological underpinnings of neurodevelopmental conditions, particularly ASD and ADHD, through integrative approaches that combine genomic and transcriptomic data. She is passionate about research that can ultimately inform early interventions and improve outcomes for children.Outside the lab, she enjoys hiking and exploring the Bay Area with her husband and three daughters.
Naghmeh Shargh, PhD
​
Naghmeh Shargh is an award-winning mathematician who holds a PhD in optimization and applied mathematics. She has several years of experience in the tech industry working as a machine learning engineer. Naghmeh is passionate about advancing research in mental health and understanding the human brain. Outside of work, Naghmeh enjoys meditation, exploring nature, and reading.
Hazal Senturk, MS
​
Hazal Senturk is a researcher specializing in genetics and computational biology with a deep-seated passion for understanding the brain and advancing psychiatric research. Over the years, she has combined her expertise in machine learning, bioinformatics, and molecular diagnostics to explore complex genetic underpinnings of psychiatric disorders. In her spare time, Hazal enjoys kinking, trying different cuisines, reading, and spending time with her beloved cat, Rosalind.
Gordon Ye, MD student
​
Gordon Ye, from Danville, California, is pursuing an MD at Stanford School of MedicineHe graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in computer science with a specialization in biomedical computation. He then earned an MPhil in biological science at the University of Cambridge and Wellcome Sanger Institute, where he studied human placental mutations and their contribution to pregnancy complications. Gordon aspires to help develop accessible clinical tools that improve how healthcare providers screen for, diagnose, and treat psychiatric disorders. Gordon is a recipient of the Churchill Scholarship and Goldwater Scholarship.
Benson Kung, CS co-term
​
We are delighted to have Benson back for a second time in the lab. Benson majored in Math and Computer Science at Stanford. With Maurice Chiang and others, Benson subsequently started and sold a company, and now Benson has returned to academia to work on genomic methods for precision medicine in psychiatry.
Rebecca Lawn, PhD
​
Dr. Lawn is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (part time IMHL). She gained a first-class BSc (hons) in Psychology from Newcastle University and received her PhD from the University of Bristol, where she worked between the School of Psychological Science and the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit. Dr. Lawn’s applied Mendelian randomization to investigate causal relationships in evolutionary theories of development and behavior with a focus on life history theory (concentrating on age at menarche and age at first sexual intercourse) and schizophrenia. Her current research interests include the relation of trauma exposure, trauma types and PTSD with health over the life course.
Hanyang Shen, MPH (graduate student)
Hanyang is a PhD student in Stanford's Epidemiology protram. She received her MPH degree in Epidemiology from Drexel University. Her research interests are identifying risk factors and effective treatments for mental diseases using data from various sources, including longitudinal and cross-sectional studies, clinical trials, national cohorts, and genetic databases. Hanyang’s current focus in Dr. Duncan’s group is to understand genetic components of psychiatric diseases by using methods such as genome-wide association study (GWAS), pathway analysis, and polygenic risk scores (PRS).
Ciera Stafford
​
Ciera Stafford is a Research Assistant with the Integrative Mental Health Lab. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology (hons) with minors in International Studies and Human Relations at the University of Oklahoma, where she worked on analyzing Fragile X syndrome data in the Brain and Biomarker Lab. She is passionate about mental health research and advocacy. She also works for the University of Washington School of Medicine WWAMI Program. In her free time, she enjoys talking to people, reading political fiction, and, true to her Alaskan roots, doing anything outdoors.
Katy Werwath
​
Katy is a sophomore at Stanford studying CS on the biocomputation track. She is passionate about mental health and is fascinated by how genes can translate into abstract emotions and behaviors. She’s also a peer counselor at The Bridge, an outreach intern for Stanford’s Society of Women Engineers, and a tutor-mentor for East Palo Alto middle schoolers. When not up late coding, you can find her walking her poodle, paddle boarding in the Bay, and watching way too much of The Great British Baking Show!
Tayden Li​
​
Tayden is a junior at Stanford majoring in math and computational science (MCS). He is passionate about medicine and mental health and is especially interested in applying computational tools to discover how genes impact our behavior and mental wellbeing. He also serves as a preclinical volunteer chair and a Mandarin interpreter chair at Stanford’s Pacific Free Clinic as well as a social chair at Taiwanese Cultural Society. In his free time, he loves to watch shows like Bojack Horseman that have interesting perspectives on well-being and psychiatric disorders.
Madeleine Salem​
Madeleine Salem is a freshman at Stanford studying Symbolic Systems with a neuroscience concentration. She is passionate about mental health advocacy and innovating clinical psychiatry. She is also a peer counselor and coordinator at The Bridge, a Bridge to Care counselor at Stanford's Arbor Free Clinic, and Executive Director of the mental health nonprofit The Purple Hydrangea Project. In her free time, you'll find her playing instruments, going on hikes with her dog, and binge-watching yet another anime.
Alumni
Cheyanne Lewis, MS (rotation student)
Cheyanne joined the Stanford Neurosciences PhD program in 2022. We're excited to see what Cheyanne chooses for her doctoral work, and it's already clear that she is a gifted scientific thinker who will do great things. In our lab she launched the postmortem tissue project, in which we will be imaging genetics-identified targets in human postmortem brain tissue. Prior to rotating in our lab, Cheyanne was a postbac at UC Davis where she gained expertise in a wide range of techniques including mouse handling and colony management, DRG dissections, cell culture, immunohistochemistry, confocal imaging, and quantitative image analysis.
Will Li
William Li is an undergraduate at Stanford University studying computer science and symbolic systems. Working with Ohio State University, he has published research on various areas of math and computer science, from autonomous driving to differential equations to combinatorial game theory. His research with MIT PRIMES invented new algebraic objects with applications in dynamical systems. At Stanford, Will's research interests are in AI and computational cognitive science with a focus on mental health. Outside of science, Will enjoys promoting mental health awareness, writing satire for the newspaper, and “Zip-Carring” to the bay!
Kevina Wang
Kevina Wang is a sophomore at Stanford University studying Computer Science and Psychology. She is passionate about mental health and hopes to leverage technology and business to democratize effective mental health care. She serves as Director of University Relations at the Bridge Peer Counseling Center and works for a Stanford GSB mental health tech start-up. Beyond work, she loves to dance and is on the Stanford cheer team.
Raina Bhatia
Raina is a freshman at Stanford majoring in bioengineering and potentially international relations. She is passionate about studying correlations between genetics and psychiatric disorders and is really excited to learn more about and apply statistical genetics to identify mechanisms that contribute to mental health disorders. She is also a Board Intern for the Model UN team for the Society for International Affairs at Stanford, a member of Stanford Students in Biodesign’s Probe team, and enjoys playing the drums when she can. In her free time, Raina is either gushing about/playing with her dogs, binge-watching TV, and analyzing every cricket match ever played.
Bryna Cooper, PsyD
Postdoc, Harvard Medical School
Bryna completed her clinical psychology PsyD in our lab through the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium. Congrats Bryna! Bryna is passionate about working with PTSD and complex trauma through both translational research and direct clinical work. Her research interests are primarily centered on understanding the risk and resiliency factors involved in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Bryna has completed numerous clinical placements in the San Francisco-Bay Area focused on the mental health treatment of trauma survivors.
Maurice Chiang
​
CEO, Prairie Health
Maurice Chiang received his bachelors in bioengineering at Stanford in 2019, and is currently in a computer science graduate program. He is fascinated with data-driven approaches to mental health problems. In his free time, Maurice can be found in the ceramics studio working on sculptures and installations.
Joeri Meijsen, PhD
​
Postdoc, Institute for Biological Psychiatry, Denmark
Joeri Meijsen, PhD holds a Master’s degree in computer science from the University of Leiden (Netherlands) and a PhD in statistical genetics and machine learning from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland). During his PhD he focused on developing new statistical and bioinformatics tools for the detection of genetic contributions to psychiatric disorders. Research interests include population genetics, examining the contribution of genetic interaction with environmental risk factors, developing novel statistical methodologies, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Congrats Joeri on the new postdoc in Denmark!
Jacob Reiter
​
Jacob Reiter is a graduate researcher at IMHL and current Stanford grad student in computer science (biocomputation track). His undergrad at Stanford was in Symbolic Systems. He is passionate about applying novel computational techniques towards mental illness. His previous work included developing an interpretable schizophrenia classifier on brain imaging data. He also serves as the Stanford MSCS mental health information network representative. For fun, Jacob reads literature on botany and watches inordinate amounts of "Survivor."
Benson Kung
​
Benson Kung is a senior at Stanford studying math and computer science. Like others in the IMHL, he is passionate about solving mental health problems. When not working, Benson likes to make short films and cook.
Alex Bhatt
​
Undergrad
Alexander “Alex” Bhatt is a junior at Stanford University double majoring in Human Biology and History. His research interests include epidemiology, congenital and developmental disorders, and emerging technologies as they relate to the evolving field of medicine. Some activities he does that give him life are being a counselor and Outdoor Leadership Coordinator at Camp Kesem Stanford, volunteering through organizations such as Kids with Dreams and Servant Breakfast, and spending time with his first-year residents as a resident advisor. For fun, Alex enjoys competing as part of Stanford’s club rugby team, going to concerts, and playing pick-up basketball.
bottom of page