Harvard Catalyst Profiles

I am an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the HMS and a Lead Investigator at the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders (DSCD), BWH. I also serve as the Research Director of the Medical Biodynamics Program, a cross-disciplinary research and training program whose major goal is to promote translational research in sleep medicine and facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations.

Research Interests:
I was trained in biomedical engineering during my Ph.D. I received my postdoctoral training in neurophysiology including sleep/circadian and Alzheimer’s. I am interested in understanding sleep and circadian disturbances as potential risk factors of neurodegeneration or cognitive complications. I am also interested in designing new tools through biomedical signal analyses to predict disease progression and monitor health status. My current research is devoted to understand sleep and circadian contributions to brain health disparities in diverse populations.

Society Memberships:
Senior Member
IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society

Member
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
American Heart Association
Sleep Research Society
Society for Neuroscience
The Alzheimer's Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer Research and Treatment (ISTAART)

Mentors:
Kun Hu, Ph.D., 2016-present (Primary)
Monty A. Montano, Ph.D., 2020-present (Co-mentor on HIV and aging research)
Ingrid T. Katz, MD, 2020-present (Co-mentor on HIV research)

Trainees:
Postdoctoral Fellows
Chenlu Gao, Ph.D., 2021-present

Research Assistants (*indicates a trainee for whom I was/am a co-mentor)
*Chelsea Hu, B.S., 2017-2019
*Longchang Cui, B.S., 2019-2020
*Arlen Gaba, B.S., 2019-present
*Ma Cherrysse Ulsa, B.S., 2020-present
Xi Zheng, M.S., 2020-present

Visiting Ph.D. students
Ruixue Cai, M.S., 2022-present

Undergraduates (*indicates a trainee for whom I was/am a co-mentor)
*Nicole Nikolaeva Gaykova, 2021-present

High school students
Max Wagner, 2021-present