Our core team within the Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging at UCSF is composed of experienced neuroimaging researchers and clinical research support staff, as well as student trainees. Please visit their pages to learn more about their research and clinical backgrounds.
Melanie Morrison, PhD (she/her)
Principal Investigator
[email protected]
Dr. Morrison is an Assistant Professor in the Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Department and a core member of the UCSF-UC Berkeley Joint PhD Program in Bioengineering. She recieved her PhD in Medical Biophysics in 2016 from the University of Toronto. She oversees all research activities and provides mentorship to lab members.
Sarah Wang, PhD (she/her)
Clinical Research Manager
[email protected]
Dr. Wang is the Director of Operations and Clinical Research for UCSF’s Movement Disorder and Neuromodulation Center. She recieved her PhD in Neuroscience and Psychology from Dartmouth College. She manages study recruitment and scheduling for the lab.
Skyler Deutsch, BS (she/her)
Staff Research Associate
Skyler Deutsch is a recent National Science Foundation REPS fellow and marine biology graduate from San Francisco State University who joined the lab in 2023 as a Staff Research Associate. She develops and manages our imaging database, performs data analyses, and leads patient research visits.
Devin Schoen, MS (she/her)
Graduate Student Researcher
Devin Schoen is a graduate student in the Bioengineering joint Ph.D. program at UC Berkeley and UCSF who joined the lab in 2023. She earned her BS in Physics in 2020 from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and her MS in Medical Physics in 2022 from Oregon Health and Science University. She is working to build models that predict DBS outcomes for Parkinson's Disease using multi-modal imaging markers.
Philip Shih, BA (he/him)
Medical and Graduate Student Researcher
Philip Shih is a medical student at UCSF who joined the lab in 2023 through the Visit-a-Mentor Program and UCSF/UC Berkeley Joint Medical Program. He was selected for the 2023 Summer Explore Fellowship and is currently investigating the efficacy of diffusion MRI biomarkers for predicting patient outcomes following deep brain stimulation therapy.
Carleigh Williams, BS (she/her)
Medical Student Researcher
Carleigh Williams is a medical student at UCSF who joined the lab in 2023 through the Visit-a-Mentor Program. She was selected for the 2023 Summer Explore Fellowship and is currently investigating methods for computing whole-brain fractional anisotropy and comparing them to DBS outcome metrics.
Lucia West, BS (she/her)
Medical Student Researcher
Lucia West is a medical student at UCSF who joined the lab in 2021 through the Visit-a-Mentor Program. She was selected for the RIDR Program and has continued investigating whether diffusion MRI images can effectively predict Parkinson’s disease symptom response to deep brain stimulation. In a recent interview, she was asked about her experience in the RIDR program – read about it!
Ibukunoluwa (Ibukun) Ibrahim, BS (he/him)
Medical Student Researcher
Ibukun Ibrahim is a medical student at UCSF and joined the lab in 2023 through the Visit-a-Mentor Program. He was selected for the RIDR Program and has been researching the use of fMRI data collected during cyclic DBS as a method of establishing stimulation-induced changes in connectivity between the subcortical structures and the cortical regions.
Radhika Bhalerao, BS (she/her)
Research Data Science Specialist
Radhika Bhalerao is a research data science specialist at UCSF who earned her BS in bioengineering and data science from UC Berkeley in 2021. She works with both the Rauschecker lab and Morrison lab, specifically within our group developing temporal fMRI biomarkers of Parkinson's disease motor symptoms.
Pei Ting (Annie) Liu, BA (she/her)
Research Administrative Officer
Annie Liu is a research administrative officer at UCSF who earned her BA in psychology from UC Los Angeles in 2021. She provides administrative support for the lab and other groups within the radiology department.
David Mikhael (he/him)
Undergraduate Student Researcher
David Mikhael is a 2023 summer intern as part of the Ci2 Program. He is a super senior at Minerva University, studying Data Science and Neuroscience and graduating in December 2023. He uses Machine Learning to find fMRI biomarkers that influence DBS outcomes in Parkinson's patients.
