Lab Members

Dr. Blumenfeld's clinical and research work focuses on epilepsy, cognition and brain imaging. He directs Yale's Clinical Neuroscience Imaging Center (CNIC), a new multi-disciplinary core facility for innovative study and treatment of brain disorders. Teaching activities include a textbook titled Neuroanatomy Through Clinical Cases, Sinauer Assoc., Publ. 2002, 2010, 2020.

Samiksha graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2019 with a BS in Neuroscience. Her research avenues thus far have centered on Major Depressive Disorder, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington's Disease, and electrophysiology. Future interests include but are not limited to neurodevelopment, epilepsy, substance use disorders, and the circuitry of addiction.

Fabrizio Darby is a Medical Student at the Yale School of Medicine from Portmore, Jamaica. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Miami with a double major in Biology (departmental honors) and Health Science and minors in Chemistry and Creative Writing.

I am a trained clinical neurologist and have always been interested in combining clinical practice with a better understanding of disease concepts and pathomechanisms from basic research. In my education and training, I have taken a multidisciplinary approach that allows me to explore topics such as the application of real-time processing of brain biosignals to the analysis of epileptiform phenomena that may result in transient impairment of behavior and cognition. A second focus is to study the development of epilepsy and resistance to therapy with seizure suppressing drugs from the perspective of genetics.

Zheng Zhang is a Postdoctoral Associate in Dr. Blumenfeld's lab at Yale School of Medicine. Zheng investigates human behaviors and brain mechanisms of neurological disorders (e.g., epilepsy, stroke) from the aspects of consciousness, emotion, and cognition. He applies advanced research methodology and techniques in his current research, including machine learning, electrophysiological approaches, and MRI. Zheng received his Ph.D. in Special Education from The University of Texas at Austin. In his previous research, he studied brain imaging and behavior on cognition among diverse population (e.g., typically developing individuals, those with neurological disorders). His first-authored papers appeared in top-ranked journals, including Child Development, Journal of Educational Psychology, Developmental Review, Developmental Science.

Yang Zheng obtained her MD and PhD in China focusing on the drug-resistant epilepsy and the neural circuit mechanisms. She has a deep passion for neurology, with her clinical and research interests in epilepsy, neurophysiology and neuroimmunology. Outside medicine, she enjoys anything outdoors, including hiking, running, and traveling around the world.