People
Principle Investigator
Madeleine received her MD from McGill University and completed her Neurology residency at the University of British Columbia. She did post-doctoral training with Daphna Shohamy at Columbia University and fellowship training in Movement Disorders at the Columbia University Medical Center.
Madeleine Sharp, MD
Graduate Students
The Lab
Sophie Sun, graduate student
Sophie is interested in the brain-behaviour relationships that affect cognitive impairment in prodromal Parkinson's Disease (PD). Dopamine and noradrenaline are important modulators of cognition and also among the first neuronal systems to degenerate in PD. For her thesis, she is studying the behavioural outputs of reward learning and attention - cognitive processes that have been reliably linked to the dopaminergic and noradrenergic systems, respectively - in prodromal PD patients. Understanding of the mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment during this early period is crucial because neurodegeneration remains relatively contained, therefore we can establish clearer brain-behaviour relationships.
Soraya Lahlou, graduate student
Soraya is interested in the process of memory consolidation (i.e., the strengthening of a memory over time) and how this interacts with sleep and dopamine in Parkinson's disease patients. Both sleep and dopamine are important for consolidation, yet little is known about how these two interact and affect the consolidation process in PD patients. In addition to the dopamine deficits, patients often struggle with a number of sleep-related symptoms. Impairments in the consolidation process might be a mechanism that underlies the cognitive and executive impairments present in patients.
Lyla Hawari, graduate student
Lyla's research explores the effect of stress on cognition in Parkinson's patients. Although PD patients often report increased levels of stress, implying a higher sensitivity to stress, it has yet to be determined whether this is reflected physiologically through greater cortisol level when compared to healthy older adults. Lyla's project investigates the physiological correlates in response to acute stress in addition to the potential resulting cognitive impairments in Parkinson's patients.
Yoseph Shechter, MD
Dr. Yoseph Shechter is currently a Fellow in Movement Disorders at McGill University. He holds an MD from Tel-Aviv University and a B.Sc. in Psychology & Biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has experience in data analysis from roles at Biotech companies and the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences(ELSC) lab at the Hebrew University.
Research Assistants
Jeannine’s research interests lie in the intersection of cognition and motor control, with a particular interest in cognitive phenotypes associated with Parkinson’s disease. She is interested in how these phenotypes relate to clinical factors and influence disease progression.
Jeannine Bradsby
Web Developers
Nick is a fullstack developer with particular interest in the frontend. He is interested in creating responsive, aesthetic, and intuitive web applications using the latest available technologies.
Nicholas Lee
Alumni
Nasri Balit (research assistant)
Medical student at McGill University
Tommy Kim (MSc student)
Medical student at McGill University
Alexander Bailey (MSc student)
MD-PhD student at University of Toronto
Lara Telli (research assistant)
Undergraduate student at Université de Montréal
Samantha Maltezos (psychology honours student)
PhD student in Clinical Neuropsychology at the Université de Montréal
Zhen-Yi Andy Ou (neuroscience honours student)
Medical student at the University of Queensland in Australia
Matt Pilgrim (MSc student)
Psychology PhD student in Clinical Science at the University of Southern California
Leah Suissa-Rocheleau (research assistant)
Law Student at McGill University
Xu Elsie Yan (research assistant)
Psychology PhD student in Clinical Child Psychology at Penn State
Yilin Zhang (research assistant)
Medical student at McGill University