PEOPLE

Principal Investigator

Dr. Andy Lee

Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough.

Adjunct scientist, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto.

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Following a B.A. in Psychology, Physiology, and Philosophy at the University of Oxford, I was a Ph.D. student at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge working with Professors Trevor Robbins and Adrian Owen on the role of the human frontal lobes in memory encoding and retrieval. I then undertook a post-doctoral position with Prof. Kim Graham at the MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK, where I became interested in long-term memory and the medial temporal lobes. In 2006, I moved to the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford on a Royal Society Relocation Fellowship, and became a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellow in 2008. In 2011, I took up a faculty position at the Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Scarborough campus. Outside of science, I love spending time with my wife and children, and making music.

Our Team

Dr. Qun Ye

Postdoctoral Fellow

qun.ye@utoronto.ca

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I am a Postdoctoral Fellow co-supervised by Dr. Andy Lee and Dr. Rutsuko Ito. Before joining the labs, I completed my PhD under the co-supervision of Dr. Yi Hu and Dr. Sze Chai Kwok at the East China Normal University, where I was investigating the neural basis of human/nonhuman temporal memory and metacognition using MRI/EEG/TMS. Now my research focuses on the contribution of medial temporal structures and its interaction with other brain regions in support of both episodic memory and approach-avoidance decision making. In my spare time, I enjoy traveling, hiking, playing video games and spending time with my family.

Chi-Hsun (Eric) Chang

Graduate Student

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I am currently a Ph.D. student co-supervised by Dr. Andy Lee and Dr. Adrian Nestor. I completed my B.Sc. in Psychology at the National Chengchi University, Taiwan, where I was investigating sleep and memory using EEG under the supervision of Dr. Chien-Ming Yang. I then worked as a research assistant in Dr. Bo-Cheng Kuo’s lab at the National Taiwan University and Dr. Man-Ying Wang’s lab at Soochow University, where I gain research experiences in fMRI. My current research interests involve using computational modelling and neuroimaging methods to investigate the nature of representations underlying memory and perception for faces as well as how they are impacted by different factors (e.g., interference, healthy ageing, mental illness, etc). Outside the lab, I enjoyed travelling, playing video games and building plastic models.

Dean Carcone

Graduate Student

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I am a graduate student completing my PhD in Clinical Psychology under the co-supervision of Andy Lee and Anthony Ruocco. I obtained a combined honours Bachelor's degree in Biology and Psychology at McMaster University prior to joining the Lee Lab. My research uses neuroimaging to examine the neural bases of memory disturbances that occur in different clinical populations (including individuals with depression and borderline personality disorder). I am also interested in how psychological symptoms and life stressors, which exist across many disorders, influence the development and presentation of these memory disturbances. When not at the lab, I can be found playing board games, listening to audiobooks, or curling. 

Shouyu Ling

Graduate Student

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I received my B.Sc in Psychology at University of Toronto. I am currently a Ph.D student co-supervised by Dr. Andy Lee and Dr. Adrian Nestor. My research focuses on examining the neural correlates of visual perception and mental imagery. Specifically, I apply various machine learning techniques on neuroimaging data to try to retrieve the content of visual/imagery experiences. Outside the lab, I enjoy reading and spending time with friends.

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Willem Le Duc

Graduate Student

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I am a graduate student pursuing a Master’s and PhD in Clinical Psychology, co-supervised by Drs. Andy Lee and Antony Ruocco. I completed a B.A. in Honours Psychology at McGill University, and conducted the research for my undergraduate thesis in the Sheldon Memory Lab, under the supervision of Dr. Signy Sheldon. My undergraduate research focused on how individual differences in remembering styles are reflected in the structure, connectivity and functional dynamics of the hippocampus. My Master’s thesis will examine approach-avoidance conflict processing in patients with hippocampal lesions. My extracurricular interests include rock climbing, cycling, basketball and cinema.

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Dr. Sonny Dhawan

Postdoctoral Fellow

sonny.dhawan@utoronto.ca 

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in both the Lee-MTL (Dr Andy Lee) and Ito-LiMBiC (Dr Rutsuko Ito) labs. During my PhD at the University of St Andrews (Scotland), I worked with Prof. Verity Brown investigating the role of the subthalamic nucleus in executive functioning – particularly understanding how inactivating this region in the rat impairs the selection of responses necessary for the formation of attentional set. I am interested in both the learning and memory processes exercised during decision making and problem solving, and I am currently exploring the role of the rodent medial temporal lobe in approach-avoidance decision making. In my spare time, I enjoy traveling to new places, eating new food, reading about astronomy, and playing guitar, hockey, and video games.

Sathesan Thavabalasingam

Graduate Student

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My research interests involve using functional neuroimaging to uncover the role of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) in representing rich information about our experiences and guiding behaviour. A major focus of my current research is to clarify how the brain constructs memories that are organized in time. Specifically, I am investigating how temporal information (e.g. order and duration) is integrated in to memory representations and how these integrated codes form the basis for temporal maps of experience. Outside of the lab, I enjoy reading, going to the gym, and spending time with friends and family. 

Dylan Yeates

Graduate Student

I am PhD student co-supervised by Rutsuko Ito and Andy Lee. I completed my BA in Psychology at the University of British Columbia, under the supervision of Stan Floresco. My current research involves looking at how the hippocampus processes and resolves approach-avoidance conflicts in animals and humans. Outside of the lab I enjoy reading about science and history, cooking, and exploring the city!

Sonja Chu

Graduate Student

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I am a PhD student in the clinical program at UTSC, and I am co-supervised by Andy Lee and Vina Goghari. Before joining the lab, I completed my Honours BA in Psychology from McGill University. My research uses fMRI and computational modelling to examine approach-avoidance conflict decision making in GAD and MDD. Outside of the lab, I enjoy volunteering and spending time with my dog. 

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Denada Alushaj

Graduate Student

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I received my B.Sc. at the University of Toronto and completed my undergraduate thesis under the supervision of Dr Rutsuko Ito. Currently, I am a Master’s student under the co-supervision of Drs. Andy Lee and Rutsuko Ito. My research looks at the role of the lateral entorhinal-hippocampal circuit on temporal duration memory in rat models. In my spare time, I like to read, draw and spend time with my family and friends.

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Postdoctoral Fellows

Undergraduate Students

Hilary Watson

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Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK (2010 - 2011), and Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada (2011 - 2013).

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Graduate students

Danielle Douglas

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​PhD student (2011 - 2016), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada.

Thesis title: ‘Stairway to nowhere: Structural incoherencies reveal the role of the medial temporal lobe in visual perception’.

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Sarah Rudebeck

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​PhD student (2008 - 2012), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK.

Thesis title: ‘The Human Medial Temporal Lobe, Brain Connectivity, and Recognition Memory’.

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Emma Hindley

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​MSc in Neuroscience project student (2010), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK.

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Rebecca Milington

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​MSc in Neuroscience project student (2009), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK.

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Matt Margerison

​Co-op Placement student & research thesis student (2017 - 2018), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Karlie Wood​

​Research thesis student (2017 - 2018), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Abdul

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​Research thesis student (2016 - 2017), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Ming Wu

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Lab Manager (2016-2017), Research Assistant (2017-2018) Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Olga Carpio

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​​Research Assistant (2015), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Mylann Guevara

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​Research thesis student (2014 - 2015), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Iris Li

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​​Research thesis student (2014 - 2015), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Katrina Bogus

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​Research thesis student (2013 - 2014), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Zahraa Chorghay

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​Research assistant volunteer & NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Award student (2012 - 2014), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Jenkin Mok

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​Research thesis student (2013 - 2014), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Peter Rizk

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​Research thesis student (2013 - 2014), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Sathesan Thavabalasingam

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​​Research thesis student & University of Toronto Excellence Award in the Natural Sciences and Engineering research student (2012 - 2013).

Sonya Dhillon

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​Research supervised study student (2012 - 2013), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Eropa Stein

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​Volunteer research assistant (2012 - 2013)

Eva Ta

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​Summer undergraduate research assistant (2012), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Kathryn Atherton

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​Summer undergraduate research assistant (2009), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK.

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Alumni

Postdoctoral Fellows

Undergraduate Students

Hilary Watson

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Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK (2010 - 2011), and Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada (2011 - 2013).

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Graduate students

Danielle Douglas

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​PhD student (2011 - 2016), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada.

Thesis title: ‘Stairway to nowhere: Structural incoherencies reveal the role of the medial temporal lobe in visual perception’.

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Karlie Wood​

​Research thesis student (2017 - 2018), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Olga Carpio

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​​Research Assistant (2015), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Mylann Guevara

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​Research thesis student (2014 - 2015), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Iris Li

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​​Research thesis student (2014 - 2015), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Katrina Bogus

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​Research thesis student (2013 - 2014), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

Zahraa Chorghay

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​Research assistant volunteer & NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Award student (2012 - 2014), Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

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