Division of Intramural Research

Titilola Akintola, Ph.D., Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow

Lola Akintola is a visiting postdoctoral fellow who will be investigating the mechanisms of expectation effects on pain using neuroimaging and behavioral approaches. Lola received her B.Sc. in biology from Morgan State University and her Ph.D. in toxicology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where she studied under the mentorship of Dr. Luana Colloca. Lola’s doctoral work investigated pain modulation in chronic pain and healthy populations using both preclinical and clinical models of pain. Specifically, her project employed a translational approach to investigate how Placebo Analgesia is altered in chronic neuropathic pain. She can be reached at titilola.akintola@nih.gov.

View Dr. Akintola's publications.

Sabrina Barhoum, Postbaccalaureate IRTA Fellow

Sabrina Barhoum is a postbac IRTA research fellow who is currently studying the neural and psychological mechanisms of pain perception, particularly expectation and pain relief. Sabrina attended Muhlenberg College and received her B.S. in neuroscience and minor in philosophy. She spent her undergraduate years working in Dr. Gretchen Gotthard’s lab, where she evaluated the disruption of memory and memory reconsolidation using virtual reality. This research focused on proposing future treatment for memory-based disorders, like post-traumatic stress disorder, and was presented as a poster at the Society for Neuroscience Convention in 2019. She completed a grant proposal investigating the association between media multitasking and negative affect in children under the mentorship of Dr. Matthieu de Wit, and presented a formal talk about the extended mind theory and technology under the guidance of Dr. Jeremy Teissere. Her other research interests and proposed areas of study include childhood psychopathology, cognition, and neural plasticity. She can be reached at sabrina.barhoum@nih.gov.

Jama Brookes, Postbaccalaureate IRTA Fellow

Jama Brookes is a postbac IRTA research fellow who is currently assisting in understanding biopsychosocial processes in pain perception and expressions. She will create and analyze psychophysiological stimuli to study health disparities in pain. Jama received a B.S. in psychology with a minor in medical humanities from Appalachian State University. While completing her undergraduate degree, Jama worked under three research professors in the departments of biochemistry, psychology, and economics. She researched P450 modulation, moral aspects of blame, and the role of sleep in monetary decision making, respectively. While at NIH, she hopes to further investigate the social and cultural factors that influence the physician-patient relationship in pain treatment. Outside of lab, Jama enjoys dancing, hiking, whitewater rafting, and watercolor painting. She can be contacted at jama.brookes@nih.gov.

Maya Joshi Delity, Postbaccalaureate IRTA Fellow

Maya Joshi Delity is a postbac IRTA research fellow who will be investigating psychological processes on chronic pain, as well as mechanisms of expectation effects on pain. To this end, she will gather and analyze neuroimaging, psychophysiological, and participant self-report data. Maya received her B.A. in psychology from Boston University, where she studied under the mentorship of Dr. Nicholas Wagner in the Biobehavioral and Social Emotional Lab. Her honors thesis examined the impact of overreactive parenting on childhood anxiety and the moderating role of children’s parasympathetic nervous system. During her undergraduate studies, Maya also studied trauma-related disorders and mood disorders under the guidance of Dr. Nathaniel Harnett, Dr. Lauren Lebois, and Dr. Kerry Ressler at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Outside of the lab, Maya enjoys taking long walks, cooking, and reading.

Julie Parsons, Postbaccalaureate IRTA Fellow

Julie Parsons is a postbac IRTA fellow who is currently assisting in research pertaining to the neurological and physiological expressions of pain, as well as interpretations of pain. She hopes to continue within this line of questioning to see how negative affect or experiences differ from those of pain within the neurological and physiological expression of individuals. Julie received a B.A. in psychology and a B.S. in biochemistry from Lee University, where she worked with Dr. Bryan Poole to study the effects of various social influences on emotion perception in individuals. During her undergraduate studies, she also worked with Dr. Sarah Schlosser to study the intersection of chemistry education and psychological impact of perception. Her research goals include continuing to look at the intersection of negative affect and experiences on the physiological health of individuals with the intent of developing methods that improve physiological health by better understanding the effects of affect. Outside of the lab, Julie enjoys hiking, yoga, reading, cooking, and exploring the D.C. area. She can be contacted at julie.parsons@nih.gov.

Qingbao Yu, Ph.D., Senior MRI Data Analyst

Qingbao Yu, Ph.D., is a senior MRI data analyst. He will perform analyses on pain related task fMRI data. Dr. Yu received his B.A. in physics as well as his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering (neuroinformatics) from Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China. While obtaining his Ph.D., Qingbao worked under Dr. Yiyuan Tang, where he performed fMRI and EEG studies to investigate functional brain connectivity during Chinese language tasks and gender differences in mental rotation tasks. Dr. Yu’s postdoctoral and research scientist research was conducted in Dr. Vince Calhoun’s laboratory at the Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he combined ICA and graph theory based analysis to examine brain connectivity in patients with schizophrenia. In May 2018, Dr. Yu joined ANP lab at NCCIH to work with Dr. Lauren Atlas.
View Dr. Yu's publications

Yili Zhao, Ph.D., Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow

Yili Zhao, Ph.D., is a visiting postdoctoral fellow who is currently investigating the neural mechanisms underlying learning process of pain and other negative emotions. Yili received her M.Sc. in psychology from Chinese Academy of Sciences under the mentorship of Dr. Wencai Zhang, where she studied the placebo effects on pain, noise, and other unpleasant experiences. she then moved to Europe and received her Ph.D. in natural sciences (psychology) from University of Vienna under the mentorship of Dr. Claus Lamm, where her research was focused on neural mechanisms of empathy for pain and emotion identifications on pain and disgust. Specifically, she uses a wide range of research approaches including behavioral measures, univariate and multi-voxel fMRI analysis, computational modeling, and psychopharmacological administration. She can be reached at yili.zhao@nih.gov.