From the Lab to the Limelight - Blog version of our #TraineeTuesday Twitter series
This #TraineeTuesday, we’re excited to highlight Hannah Batchelor, a wonderful MD/PhD student in the Cardin lab who just won an F30 NRSA from the National Eye Institute! Find out how Hannah's vision research connects to her love for psychiatry.
Hannah’s NRSA will support her thesis work. Using calcium imaging, she's studying the cortical plasticity of mice that are learning to associate a visual cue with reward. Her long-term goals are to translate this research to substance use disorders or schizophrenia.
Raised by two social workers in Detroit, Hannah was exposed to psychiatric concerns from a young age. She studied neuroscience at Michigan State and went on to work directly with community members struggling with substance use disorders in Baltimore through the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Dinnertime conversations often revolved around stories from my parent’s therapy practices, and I often accompanied my mom as she cared for a man with schizophrenia. In part due to these experiences, I have always been interested in how people think, feel, and behave.
Hannah Batchelor
The relationships she developed while working at a free health clinic and running the Baltimore Needle Exchange van directly inspired her to pursue a career in medicine. Hannah was drawn to Yale's strong focus on addiction research and outstanding Yale Psychiatry department.
The friendships I've developed with the other graduate students in the lab has been the highlight of my PhD. They are a constant source of support and encouragement and make coming to lab each day enjoyable. I am continually inspired by and learning from them.
Hannah Batchelor
As an aspiring psychiatrist-scientist, Hannah hopes that her work helps improve understanding of how neural circuits are altered in patients with substance use disorders, knowing that environmental cues can be strong drivers of cravings and relapse. Great work, Hannah!