Madison brings her expertise in neuroscience, psychology, and public policy to CTBH as a Scientific Research and Communications Writer. She received her BA in Psychology and Criminology from the University of San Francisco. While in San Francisco she conducted research within the county jail assessing internal and external factors to reduce adolescent and young-adult recidivism. Following this, she joined the Center for Healthcare Improvement and Medical Effectiveness at the University of California San Francisco/San Francisco Veterans Administration Health Care System contributing to projects focused on the intersection of genetics, lifestyle, and treatment efficacy to promote advances in precision medicine. A desire to better understand the mechanics behind ineffective biomedical therapies and return to her roots in adolescent research brought her to the University of New Hampshire where she completed her PhD in Psychology. Madison’s research focuses on the neural basis of executive function. Her work is aimed at understanding the neural circuits involved in attention that are disrupted in major neuropsychiatric disorders with an emphasis on understanding the unique contributions of the subdivisions of the prefrontal cortex. Most recently, she concluded a series of projects using a novel brain network analysis to determine how adolescent and adult brains differ in response to attentional testing alone and in combination with stress. This work provided novel insight into the mechanics behind how stress during adolescence promotes increased vulnerability to the development of neuropsychiatric disorders.

In her free time, Madison enjoys using her chemistry background to experiment with molecular gastronomy and reading a good psychological thriller.