Lester Rodriguez Santos, BSc (Hon)

Lester earned a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus in San Juan, Puerto Rico. As an undergraduate, he conducted research using preclinical rodent models to investigate the role of endocannabinoids in regulating anxiety-like behaviors.

Following graduation, he joined the Neuroimaging Research Branch at the National Institute on Drug Abuse as a postbaccalaureate fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Elliot Stein. His work focused on examining alterations in functional connectivity during acute nicotine abstinence in smokers.

At Yale, Lester is co-mentored by Dr. Sarah W. Yip and Dr. Kelly Cosgrove. His research uses multimodal neuroimaging and computational approaches to investigate how psychoactive drugs alter brain function and behavior. He integrates functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) to examine changes in large-scale brain organization, dopamine signaling, and subjective drug effects following stimulant administration. His work also applies network neuroscience and predictive modeling approaches to identify neurobiological markers of substance use and vulnerability.

In addition to his research, Lester is committed to scientific outreach and education. He currently serves as Director of OpenLabs at Yale, a student-led initiative that hosts science outreach events on campus each semester. He also served as Outreach Chair for the Wu Tsai Institute’s Student, Postbac, and Postdoc Collective (SPPC), where he developed an annual Neuroscience and Cognition Bootcamp for local high school students. These efforts contributed to his receiving the 2025 Public Service Award from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for Disciplinary Outreach.