Leadership
Candace Lewis, Ph.D.
Laboratory Director
Dr. Candace Lewis grew up in rural Alaska and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. She earned her Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Arizona State University in 2015. After earning her Ph.D., she completed a Fulbright fellowship at the University of Zurich Psychiatry Hospital. Dr. Lewis’ research focuses on the impact of early life social experiences on epigenetic regulation of gene systems involved in mental health, the relationships between peripheral epigenetics and brain structure, function, microbiome composition, and behavior, and the potential of psychedelic-assisted therapy to reduce symptoms through psychological healing and epigenetic alterations.
Sarah Mennenga, Ph.D.
Laboratory Co-Director
Dr. Sarah Mennenga grew up in Phoenix, AZ and earned her Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Arizona State University in 2015. She continued her career at NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine, where she contributed to some of the first modern clinical trials of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for addiction and cancer-associated anxiety and depression. She is an expert in cross-species translation, and her research explores sex differences in the etiology and treatment of mental health disorders.
Doctoral Students
Taena Hanson
Taena graduated from Creighton University in 2020 with a B.S. in Neuroscience. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology. Her work is centered around the impact of epigenetics on structural and functional brain outcomes. She is also interested in studying substance abuse, decision-making, and behavioral economics. She loves nature, cooking, and movies with good cinematography.
Samantha Harker
Samantha is a neurodivergent researcher pursuing her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Arizona State University. She graduated from Arizona State University and the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in 2022 with Bachelor’s degrees in Medical Humanities and English. She is currently researching autism, aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and epigenetics/genetics. Specifically, Samantha’s current research involves genetics and neuroimaging in older adults with autism. She is investigating how Alzheimer’s risk genes may affect individuals with autism differently than the neurotypical population. Samantha is also interested in autism advocacy and public policy and hopes to publish a book in the future!
Masters Students
Jackson Parrish, Biology
Cherry Zheng, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Moira Semple
Joseph Balducci
Ada Skinner
Bryce Burch
Amy Herring
Gabe Velarde
Past Students
Allison Hays
Sophie Spencer
Alyssa Ford
Dylan Lifshitz
Chloe Holmgren
Jakobe Stevens
Hugh Gallagher
Beatriz Algibez-Flores
Mike Rucker
Gabriel Li
Itzy Baca