Sophie is a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology in Dr. Thomas Joiner's laboratory at Florida State University, and joined the UC San Diego Eating Disorders Center as a staff research associate in 2024. She is currently an APA predoctoral psychology intern. She previously completed her B.A. in Behavioral Neuroscience and Anthropology from the University of San Diego in 2019 and her M.S. in Psychology from Drexel University in 2021.
Katie joined the UC San Diego Eating Disorders Center as a staff research associate in 2023. Since graduating from Arizona State University in 2017 with her Bachelor of Science degree, she has worked in nutritional behavior research at UNC-Chapel Hill, and then as a therapeutic assistant and supervisor at Veritas Collaborative. Katie is passionate about her current role, where she can combine her interests and skills in both neuroimaging research and clinical treatment settings to support the center’s mission of improving the lives of our patients via evidence-based treatment.
Dr. Shefali Rai completed her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Calgary, where she used precision functional MRI to examine individualized brain network organization in both children and adults. Her research focused on advancing neuroimaging methods to better understand neurodevelopment. As a postdoctoral scholar in the BRIDGE Lab and the UCSD Eating Disorders Center, Dr. Rai aims to integrate multimodal metrics (MRI, genetics, behavioral data) to identify neurobiological markers that can inform early detection and precise interventions for youth.
Miki received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from University of California, San Diego. Combining her interests in cognitive neuropsychology with her experience in computer science, she is currently working as a research associate for the neuroimaging studies conducted at the UCSD Eating Disorders Treatment and Research Center. As a member of the research team, she assists in fMRI data analysis that examines the neurobiology of eating disorders.
Audrey joined the UC San Diego Eating Disorders Center (EDC) as an undergraduate research assistant in 2019 and continued her time at the EDC as a research coordinator in 2020. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Psychology from UC San Diego in 2020. Audrey went on to earn a certificate in Crisis Intervention for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault from the Women's Resource Center of Oceanside in 2024 and is pursuing her Masters of Social Work degree at San Diego State University.
Megan is a research coordinator at the UC San Diego Eating Disorders Center. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, Anthropology, and a certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Pittsburgh in 2015. Megan went on to earn her Master of Business Administration from West Virginia University in 2023. Prior to joining the EDC, she worked in various research labs at the University of Pittsburgh focusing on depression, autism spectrum, trauma, personality disorders, and eating disorders.
Dr. Makowski is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego. She earned her BSc in Psychology and PhD in Neuroscience from McGill University, and completed her postdoctoral training in UCSD’s Department of Radiology. Her research bridges multiple scales of neuroscience to better understand the development of adolescent psychiatric disorders.
Christina Wierenga, Ph.D., is a Professor and clinical neuropsychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego. She is an expert in the neurobiology of eating disorders and is the Director of the Research at the UCSD Eating Disorder Center for Treatment and Research, where she investigates cognitive, behavioral and brain mechanisms underlying symptom expression in eating disorders utilizing neuropsychological, neuroimaging and computational neuroscience approaches to guide development of neurobiologically-informed treatments.
Anorexia nervosa has the highest rate of death of any psychiatric illness. We are now beginning to understand why people develop these disorders, and we are using this information to develop more effective treatment.
Walter H. Kaye, MD
Dr. Walter Kaye was recruited to the UC San Diego faculty from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he was research director of the eating disorder program, and where he received a NIMH senior scientist award.
