ellen-vanderplasuiowaedu

Department
Psychiatry

Lab
Peg Nopoulos

Research Interests

I am interested in how local differences in brain morphology in children and adolescents correlate with behavioral outcome. This is important, because by characterizing normal neurobiology of brain circuits that influence behaviors such as fearfulness, we can potentially gain better insight into the neural underpinnings of complex psychopathology such as anxiety disorders.

Living in Iowa City

Iowa ’s unique strength of emphasizing both molecular and cognitive neuroscience drew me here from Europe. Within this neuroscience program there is a great variability as to what your fellow students work on, which creates an environment for creative thinking. In addition, at the University of Iowa you have the opportunity to work with top notch scientists and there is access to both brain damaged patients and functional imaging.