Dr. staci gruber

Post Doctoral Fellow

Kate began working for the McLean Hospital Brain Imaging Center in 2006, after graduating from Smith College with a double major in Psychology and Neuroscience. She recently completed her PhD in Experimental Clinical Psychology from Tufts University, and returned to the CCNC as a Post Doctoral Fellow. During her tenure with the CCNC, she has specialized in the creation and implementation of neurocognitive paradigms for use during MR imaging and in the advanced application of MR imaging techniques to various subject populations. Her specific interests include researching vulnerability factors for developing psychological disorders, identifying predictors of treatment response, and advanced statistical analyses, particularly regression modeling to assess the impact of recreational and medical cannabis use. In 2017, Kate was the recipient of the McLean Hospital Rossano Mind, Brain, and Behavior Predoctoral Fellowship.

Clinical Research Assistant

Celine graduated from Colby College in 2018 with a B.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Neuroscience. During her undergraduate career, Celine worked in various clinical labs, including the Colby College Emotion and Mood lab and the University of Massachusetts Infant Cognition lab. Additionally, she interned with a pediatric neuropsychologist at Maine General Medical Center and completed an independent study examining the relationship between prenatal nicotine exposure and neurocognitive disorders. After graduating from Colby, Celine worked as a neuropsychological testing assistant at a psychology practice, administering cognitive assessments and clinical scales to patients with various neurocognitive disorders. As a member of the CCNC, she will receive further training in neuropsychological testing, neuroimaging, and clinical research methodology and plans to pursue a degree in clinical neuropsychology in the future. 

Assistant Physicist

Dr. Gonenc is a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and a multimodal neuroimaging physicist at McLean Imaging Center in the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core. His area of research has centered around the utility of neuroimaging techniques and innovative data analytical strategies to enhance our understanding of the underlying biology of mental disorders in a wide range of patient populations (child, adult, geriatric). He is the recipient of the 2010 NARSAD Young Investigator Award, 2011 Rappaport Mental Health Research Scholar Award, 2013 ICGP International Junior Investigator Award and 2015 NIMH SRI in Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Award.

Senior Clinical Research Assistant

After receiving her B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Vermont in May of 2015, Ashley joined the CCNC the following June. During her time as an undergraduate she worked as a research assistant for two and a half years in the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit at the UVM College of Medicine. She explored topics such as how variations in treatment methodology for breast cancer affect cognition and how hormone exposure throughout a woman’s lifetime affects cognition after menopause. Her main interests include how the neuroanatomy and physiology of the brain interacts with the body in response to disease states, psychological disorders, and pharmacological interventions. She intends to receive more extensive training in clinical scale administration, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological assessments during her time at the CCNC. In the future, Ashley plans to attend medical school.

Medical/Clinical Director

Dr. Olson is the medical/clinical director of the McLean Imaging Center. He has a background in computational and theoretical physics, inpatient psychiatric care of medically complex patients, and outpatient treatment of patients with complex PTSD, dissociative and affective disorders. He has research interests in magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopic methods applied to psychiatric illness. His imaging research activities have been supported by the National Science Foundation, NARSAD, and on collaborative projects by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Dr. Olson oversees clinical MRI services for McLean Hospital. As medical/clinical director of the McLean Imaging Center, he works closely with the directors in the administration and development of the Imaging Center’s clinical and research infrastructure which includes three human MRI scanners and a 9.4T animal MRI, as well as a diverse array of professional staff and scientists, imaging information systems, and computational resources.

Research Associate

Kelly has been a member of the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core (CCNC) since 2009, after graduating from Boston College, magna cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. While working in the CCNC, she has gained experience in the field of neuroimaging, assisting with studies that utilize various techniques including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). She has played an integral role in the lab, co-authoring several papers on recreational and medical marijuana use as well as bipolar disorder. Kelly is especially interested in the administration of neuropsychological assessments, which led her to earn an advanced degree in School Psychology from Northeastern University in 2015. While working as a school psychologist, Kelly also continued working in the CCNC, but due to her continued interest in research, she decided to pursue additional education. In 2020, Kelly graduated from Boston University School of Medicine with a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience.

Research Project Manager

Rosie graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University in 2010 with a B.S. in Biopsychology. Prior to joining the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core (CCNC), she worked in several clinical and pre-clinical research labs, exploring interests in oncology, vision, and neuroscience research; while working with animal models of drug use and cognition, she developed an interest in the neurobiological associations between these behaviors and processes. Since joining the CCNC in 2014, she has gained experience with neuroimaging, clinical scale administration, and neuropsychological evaluation. In addition, Rosie manages the preparation and submission of IRB documents, maintains the group’s regulatory binders, and assists with the development of novel research studies in the CCNC.