Our Team
Jessica Girault, PhD
Principal Investigator
Location: Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities
Education and Training:
BS, Biology, Salem College
PhD, Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research:
Dr. Girault is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry with an appointment at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities. Her research utilizes state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques and laboratory-based behavior assessments to study the dynamic interplay between brain and behavioral development during infancy and early childhood. A major focus of her work is to understand how brain-behavior associations across development are modulated by genetic factors. Currently, Dr. Girault is the principal investigator of projects funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health and the Foundation of Hope to study how genetic background and genetic risk factors shape brain and behavioral development in autism spectrum disorder, fragile X syndrome, and Down syndrome.
Tyler McFayden, PhD
Clinical Psychology Fellow
Location: Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities
Education and Training:
BS, Psychology, Davidson College
PhD, Clinical and Developmental Psychology, Virginia Tech
APA Internship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research:
Tyler McFayden is a clinical psychology fellow at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities. Her research aims to evaluate how social communication develops in the absence of spoken language. Accordingly, her work focuses on three populations: pre-verbal infants, individuals who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing, and autistic youth. Tyler uses a multi-modal approach to understanding language and communication including using behavioral and neurophysiological/neuroimaging (e.g., EEG, fMRI, fNIRS, eye tracking) approaches. Tyler‘s current projects include (a) evaluating the relationship between white matter microstructure and language in neurodevelopmentally-at-risk infants, (b) best practices of assessing autism in the presence of hearing loss, and (c) developmental trajectories of social cognition in preterm infants.
Lindsay Mullin
Graduate Research Assistant, Lab Coordinator
Education:
BA, Developmental Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience, Emmanuel College Boston
Doctoral student, School Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Background:
Lindsay is the Girault Lab’s Coordinator. She supports study startup and manages study participation. She is the main point of contact for families who participate in Girault Lab studies. Her research interests center around neurodevelopmental disabilities in children and implications for early detection and intervention to improve quality of life. Her prior experience includes coordinating research studies of autism and dyslexia in young children, and implementing behavioral therapy for children with autism in school, camp, and home environments. Lindsay is currently a graduate student at UNC studying School Psychology.
Tessa Buscher
Undergraduate Research Intern
Education:
BS, Biology; BA, Disability Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Background:
Tessa has worked as an undergraduate research assistant for two years with the CIDD studying the initial environmental exposure on early brain behavior development related to ASD using infant bloodspots. Her interest in Disability Studies and Biology intersectionality has guided her work at the Girault Lab with emphasis on data entry for both Down Syndrome and fragile X syndrome participants. In her free time, she plays Water Polo for UNC and can often be found walking her dog around campus. After completion of her undergraduate degree, Tessa has plans to get her masters in biomedical sciences with a focus on genomics before continuing on to a doctorate degree.
Ruchi Garuda
Undergraduate Research Intern
Education:
BS, Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience (BCN), Minor in Quantitative Methods in Social Science (QMSS), University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Background:
Ruchi has worked as an undergraduate research assistant in molecular biology, neurodegenerative, and public health labs and hopes to utilize those perspectives to inform autism-based research. At the Girault Lab, she is exploring the familial associations between anxiety and fragile X syndrome and outreach for the ORIGINs project. After graduating from her undergraduate program, she plans to refine her research experience and gain clinical experience before applying to a Clinical Psychology PhD program. Her research interests involve utilizing behavioral genetic data to inform more effective interventions for children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Apart from her academic and career interests, she loves baking and watching TV shows and movies.
Libby Forsen
Undergraduate Research Intern
Education:
BS, Biology; BA, German Literature and Culture, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Background:
Libby worked as an undergraduate research assistant for two years studying associations between language profiles in siblings pairs with autism. Libby has a passion for language and is fluent in German. Her interest in the intersections between language, biology, and autism has guided her work in the lab. In her free time, she is an avid UNC basketball fan and watches as many games as possible. After her time in the Girault lab, Libby worked in the laboratory of Dr. John Constantino at Washington University, as well as training as an EMT in her hometown of St. Louis, MO. She is now pursuing her medical degree at Washington University School of Medicine.
Kai Xia, PhD
Research Associate Professor, Biostatistician
Education:
PhD, Bioinformatics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Josh Rutsohn, DrPH
Biostatistician
Education:
DrPH, Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Kevin Donovan, PhD
Biostatistician
Education:
BS, Mathematics; BS, Economics, Syracuse University
PhD, Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Background:
During his PhD with his advisor Dr. Kinh Truong, Kevin worked on developing methods extending independent component analysis to analyze functional connectivity and point process data. Through his work at the Carolina Institute of Developmental Disabilities, he used machine learning to predict future autism diagnosis in infants based on behavioral and brain image data, conducted inference on associations between autism diagnosis, behavioral outcomes, and brain measures, and taught statistical concepts and R programming.
Collaborators and Scientific Consortia
Infant Brain Imaging Study Network
PI: Joseph Piven, UNC Chapel Hill
The UNC Early Brain Development Study
PI: John Gilmore, UNC Chapel Hill
Stein Lab
PI: Jason Stein, UNC Chapel Hill
Shen Lab
PI: Mark Shen, UNC Chapel Hill
Baby Siblings Research Consortium
ENIGMA ORIGINs Working Group
PI: Rebecca Knickmeyer, Michigan State University