Ekaterina Denkova is Research Assistant Professor in the laboratory of Dr. Amishi Jha at the University of Miami. Ekaterina received her Ph.D. from the University of Strasbourg, where she examined the neural underpinnings of autobiographical memory in healthy and brain-damaged people. Shortly after, she joined the University of Alberta as a Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Postdoctoral Fellow. There, she examined the impact of attention-based emotion regulation strategies on the way emotional autobiographical memories are remembered. This led her to seek integrating mindfulness into her research and to join the Jha Lab, initially as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Broadly, her research interests reside in examining the neural underpinnings of cognitive and affective processes involved in memory and mind wandering, a concept linked to autobiographical memory, and the effects of mindfulness-based attention training programs on these processes. Her research involves brain imaging methods (fMRI, ERP) and cognitive and affective assessments in diverse populations. 

Samantha Davis is a third-year doctoral student in the College of Public Health at Temple University in the Social and Behavioral Sciences department. Her interests are to improve health outcomes using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based practices for behavior change in underserved populations. Her interests have focused on substance use/dependence research which began during her undergraduate degree working in a lab investigating substance use in college students. The majority of her research focus is on tobacco control through smoking cessation interventions. Currently, she is involved in several research projects such a large, multi-level, National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded intervention that provides CBT counseling to low-income female smokers with children. Additionally, she is interested in the role of psychosocial factors in vulnerable populations, such as mattering to others in breast cancer patients. Her research has focused on unique and underserved populations. She has collaborated with colleagues on projects working with populations such as low-income women and children, racial/ethnic minorities, teen girls, women in Rwanda and cancer survivors. After completing her PhD, she strives to continue to work with these populations using mindfulness, CBT and evidence-based practices to promote health and well-being.

You know that moment when you notice that your mind was wandering? Maybe you’re reading a book and notice that you’ve been scanning the page with your eyes but not actually reading? In my doctoral studies I’m studying what the brain does that makes you notice. More precisely, I am working on understanding “meta-awareness” and the cognitive neuroscience of how we notice when we are not paying attention. Meta-awareness could be thought of as antithetical to mindfulness. My goal is to increase the frequency of meta-awareness through an understanding of its neural underpinnings. 

I also study meditation. Most modern meditations use the breath to anchor attention, but my work suggests that other anchors may be more suitable for some people. I have also studied the drawbacks of meditation. 

I also study psychedelics. We ran the first pre-registered scientific study on microdosing psychedelic substances. 

I am a proponent of open science and pre-registration: the way science was meant to be done! 

I am also interested in promoting intellectual conversations outside of academia. There’s no need for such conversations to stop after one gets a degree!

Hadley Rahrig is a predoctoral candidate pursuing a career in social affective neuroscience. Her graduate research contributions have broadly focused on studying the role of mindfulness in intra- and inter-personal functioning through the use of biophysical imaging technology (e.g., fMRI, EEG, fNIRS). For example, her Master’s Thesis explored the neural substrates of self-views and their potential relationship to dispositional mindfulness. She is currently testing the effects mindfulness and reappraisal training on neural (fMRI) responses in a retaliatory aggression task and evaluating the extent to which these training programs regulate anger via distinct executive control mechanisms. Her most recent project–funded by the Mind & Life Institute–applies classic theories of emotion regulation to investigate intergroup emotion in Democratic voters in an ecologically valid paradigm. This research aims to compare to effects of brief mindfulness training and reappraisal training on reducing moment-to-moment emotion reactivity– indexed via self-report and neural response profiles–during passive viewing of emotionally unpleasant political videos. Prospective findings will potentially inform neural models of mindfulness training in naturalistic paradigms.

I received my PhD in 2015 from University of Southern California where I continued my research work as postdoctoral researcher and later joined the faculty (non-tenure track). My research interest is the neurobiology of decision making and self-regulation. One focus of that research is the impact of mindfulness training on children and adolescents. This was the topic of my dissertation. I published over a dozen articles, including the Adolescent and Adults Mindfulness Scale (AAMS, Personality and Individual Differences) that is being translated to several languages, and a review of mindfulness programs in schools (Psychology in the Schools). My other research consolidated and systematized our neuroscientific knowledge of the insula’s role in decisions and addiction by publishing two articles: an overall review of the insula cortex (IC) role in decision-making (Frontiers of Behavioral Neuroscience) and a focused review of IC role in addiction (Trends In Cognitive Science).

I am a second year, neuroscience PhD student at Wake Forest School of Medicine, and am interested in studying traumatic and mild traumatic brain injuries (TBI and mTBI). I am currently conducting research in an imaging lab, where we employ multiple imaging modalities to effectively examine changes to the brain. I have worked with youth, high school, and collegiate athletes to study changes induced by repetitive head trauma from competing in a collision sport. Ultimately, my goals are to examine the short term neurological changes from this observed head impact exposure as well search for methods to alleviate the long term ramifications that have been seen in athletes who have finished their careers. I have spent countless hours collecting and examining bio mechanical and neurological data in previous studies and intend to utilize that skill set in this current endeavor.

Nabila Farhin Jahan explores the characteristics and effects of contemplative states and practices (e.g., mindfulness, self-inquiry, meditation) on human functioning and wellbeing. Personally, and as a clinical psychology graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University, she is particularly interested in investigating impacts of social conditioning, language, thought- and identity-formation on mindful awareness, compassion, and healthy living. Residing in both Bangladesh and the US, with exposure to Eastern and Western cultures, Nabila integrates both contemplative lenses in her exploration. She also applies modern technology to investigate and disseminate contemplative teachings/practices, while promoting their accessibility to underserved populations through individual/group therapy and discussions.