Outstanding Members Through the Years Panel

As part of our Award & Grant panel & Conversations with Neuroscientists series, we’re thrilled to be hosting the first two days of our ongoing Outstanding Members Through the Years Panels! These panels will feature some of our tremendous members that have contributed to and shaped Nu Rho Psi on the chapter and national levels, including a few Outstanding Members of the Year Award recipients!

When: Tuesday, April 8 at 4 PM Pacific/7 PM Eastern & Wednesday, April 9 at 4 PM Pacific/7 PM Eastern
Where: Virtual, via Zoom.
Register here: April 8: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ddPLYuKnS7qV_4DUmKU7xw | April 9: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/GXI8yGe0TySeJNPNHAK0uQ
Open to: EVERYONE (regardless of membership!)

Panelists

Tuesday, April 8

Maya Holman, B.S. | Post-baccalaureate researcher at WashU School of Medicine

Maya Holman (she/her) is a post-baccalaureate researcher in the Chen Lab at WashU School of Medicine, under the guidance of Dr. Shiming Chen, PhD, an Associate Media Director with National Nu Rho Psi, and is preparing for the 2026 medical school application cycle. In the Chen Lab, she studies inherited retinal diseases and photoreceptor degeneration mechanisms utilizing qPCR, histology, immunohistochemistry, enzymatic assays, cell culture, gene augmentation and molecular cloning. Previously, Holman worked as a research assistant in the Division of Comparative Medicine and Neuroscience at the Oregon National Primate Research Institute, focused on non-human primate behavioral enrichment and welfare under the guidance of Dr. Kristine Coleman, PhD. Her undergraduate senior capstone grant proposal was titled “Establishing a theoretical framework for the study of brain-to-brain electrical synchrony between teachers and students in the language-learning classroom.“

During her undergraduate career, Holman was the Event Coordinator and President of the DePaul University Nu Rho Psi chapter, helping to organize DePaul NRP’s 2023 and 2024 Brain Awareness Weeks. She has a passionate dedication to learning, teaching, outreach and creative problem solving, shown through her numerous volunteer and leadership experiences. Holman is currently volunteering in the surgical pre/post anaesthesia care unit at a local hospital and has been an integral part in the development and execution of the Nu Rho Psi Conversations with Neuroscientists podcast series (https://youtube.com/@NuRhoPsi). Formerly, she has been Volunteer and Site Coordinator for DePaul Community Service Association, an Ambassador & Senior Student Ambassador for DePaul College of Science and Health and a Neuroscience Program Navigator, a 2023 Black in Neuroscience Area Meetup Coordinator, an English as a Second Language tutor with Heartland Alliance, and provided tutoring and mentorship at the Rohingya Culture Center in Chicago. Additionally, she sells zines at a local bookstore in Chicago and has publications in the works for WUSM’s student-run publication Hippocrene (art), WashU’s Science Policy club ProsPER (blog post), research digests for a new initiative in the Ophthalmology department, and an upcoming Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) poster/manuscript on Dominant mutations in CRX homeodomain inflict the loss of cone identity.

Dr. Janavi Ramesh, M.D. | Neurology resident at UT-Southwestern

Dr. Janavi Ramesh, M.D. (she/her) is a Neurology Resident at UT-Southwestern, having completed her M.D. at the Medical College of Georgia in May 2024, and currently anticipates to further her career as a neurologist with a neurology fellowship in neuromuscular disorders. Dr. Ramesh received her M.S. and B.S. in Neuroscience from Georgia State University, where she was President of the Nu Rho Psi chapter at Georgia State from 2016-2019. The GSU chapter received the 2019 Chapter of the Year award under her leadership, and she received the Outstanding Student Member of the Year award the following year for her dedication and service to the chapter. During her undergraduate career, Dr. Ramesh was a research assistant with Dr. Marise Parent studying the relationship between eating and memory using optogenetic techniques in rats. For this research, she was an author on two publications: Post-meal Optogenetic Inhibition of Dorsal or Ventral Hippocampal Pyramidal Neurons Increases Future Intake (https://www.eneuro.org/content/6/1/ENEURO.0457-18.2018) and Inhibiting ventral hippocampal NMDA receptors and Arc increases energy intake in male rats (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8139633/). While in medical school, she presented at the Georgia Neurological Society conference on Neuronal Intermediate Filament Encephalitis, where she was named the American Academy of Neurology scholarship winner for best poster/presentation.

Dr. Ramesh has extensive volunteer and clinical experience. She has volunteered with the Equality, Pediatric, and Clinica Latina clinics through MCG, the COVID-19 Vaccine clinic at Augusta University, provided enrichment activities with inpatient children at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia with Student Patient Allies, was a Resilient Teens Facilitator working with teens on topics of resiliency, stress, and adverse childhood events, and was part of Global Brigades week-long medical camp in Nicaragua serving people in under-served rural communities in areas of dentistry, gynecology, and general medicine.

Dr. Lorenz Neuwirth, Ph.D. | Professor and researcher at SUNY – Old Westbury

Dr. Lorenz Neuwirth is a professor at SUNY – Old Westbury and the director of the Neuwirth Lab, where he investigates neurodevelopmental effects of lead poisoning, neurotoxicant exposures, autism, and behavioral neuroscience/behavioral pharmacology utilizing numerous techniques including behavioral tests, in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology, western blots, immunohistochemistry, light and confocal microscopy, blood sample analysis AVS, and behavioral & neuro- pharmacology. Dr. Neuwirth attended The College of State Island for his B.A. in Psychology, M.S., M.Phil, and PhD’s in Biology and Neuroscience. He has completed two post-docs in Neurotoxicology, Neurodegenerative disorders and Molecular Epigenetics from Thomas Jefferson University, and as a Charles E. Scheidt Fellow in the Institute for Genocide & Mass Atrocity Prevention and Binghamton University.

Dr. Neuwirth has a tremendous amount of passion for teaching, training, and creating and increasing opportunities for neuroscience students, for which he has been recognized as the 2023 Nu Rho Psi Outstanding Member of the Year, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the 2018 Society for Neuroscience & Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Carol Ann Paul Educator of the Year Award. He is an organizing committee faculty member for the SUNY – Old Westbury chapter of Nu Rho Psi and the New York & New Jersey Annual Advancing Cross-Interdisciplinary Outreach for Neuroscience conference, the faculty advisor for the Neuro-Psych Club and Neuropsychology minor, a faculty research mentor and advisor for the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP), and an extremely active member of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, where he was involved in the editorial Approaching diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience: Are we there yet? and received the 2021 FUN Distinguished Service Award. Additionally, he is interested in using technology like virtual reality to teach neuroscience techniques, behavioral testing, and neuroanatomy.

In 2024, Dr. Neuwirth was appointed by NY Governor Kathy Hochul to serve as an educator member for the New York State Advisory Council on Lead Poisoning Prevention and was nominated & inducted into Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society.

This year’s AXON conference is on Saturday, May 3 and abstract submissions are now open! Learn more here: http://axon2025.myportfolio.com/
Register here: https://tinyurl.com/AXON6Registration
Submit abstracts here: https://tinyurl.com/AXON6AbstractSubmission

Selected publications:
Neuwirth, L.S. (2024). Editorial: Tracking airborne lead exposures that disrupt children’s fronto-executive functions and inhibitory systems. American Journal of Public Health, e1-e4. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307866

Neuwirth, L.S. & Emenike, B.U. (2024). Letter to the Editor: Comment on “Neurotoxicity and outcomes from developmental lead exposure: Persistent or permanent?” Environmental Health Perspectives, 132(4), CID: 048001. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP14809

Neuwirth, L.S. & Whigham, K. (2023). The underexplored impacts of lead poisoning and COVID-19 in New York. Implications for a two-hit hypothesis amongst a pre-existing array of adverse childhood experiences that only time will tell. Special Issue: Studying the new “ACEs”: Adverse COVID experience among vulnerable youth. Youth, 3(4), 1212-1224. https://doi.org/10.3390/youth3040077

Dr. Tom Fischer, Ph.D. | Professor and Director of Undergraduate Neuroscience at Wayne State University

Dr. Tom Fischer is a professor and the Director of Undergraduate Neuroscience at Wayne State University, and current Past-President of the Nu Rho Psi National Council, where he has served in the Presidential roles since 2022. He received his B.S. in Psychology from Michigan State University, M.A./Ph.D. in Psychology (Physiological emphasis) from University of California – Riverside, with a thesis on retinal development, and completed a post-doc at Yale University under Dr. Tom Carew in synapses and behavior in Aplysia. Prior to beginning his retirement process, the Fischer Lab studied mechanisms of synaptic plasticity and the role of synaptic plasticity in the regulation of neural networks, utilizing single cell neurophysiology techniques.

Dr. Fischer has been actively involved in undergraduate curriculum development and scientific outreach. He has played a significant role as an organizer of Detroit Brain Day since 2019, an annual community Brain Awareness Week outreach fair, where he has trained countless undergraduate and graduate neuroscience student volunteers to lead activities for the Detroit community. He was the founding faculty advisor for the Wayne State University Nu Rho Psi chapter, and the driver of the Annual Nu Rho Psi Student Summit. At SfN 2024, he collaborated with Dr. Sarah Cassella (Loras College, Nu Rho Psi Presidential roles 2021-2024) on the panel Neuroscience Beyond the Classroom: Incorporating Community-Based Learning Projects into Neuroscience Courses and researchers from Wayne State University on From Research to Action: The Importance of Science Policy and Advocacy in Environmental Neuroscience, as well as several previous presentations related to engaging the community and youth and student-led neuroscience outreach in the Metro-Detroit community. Supporting these goals, he has taught classes that include Science Advocacy and Public Engagement and Introduction to Research Practice, served on several committees at the local, state, and national levels of STEM education dedicated towards curriculum development, community engagement, faculty searches, and has provided invaluable insight to the training, connection, and education of students in STEM – at all ages!

April 9 Panelists

Rahmah Ibrahim | Senior pursuing B.S. Neuroscience at Georgia State University

Rahmah Ibrahim is a senior at Georgia State University, pursuing her B.S. in Neuroscience. She received the 2022 Nu Rho Psi Outstanding Student Member of the Year award for her leadership and dedication to service, promoting neuroscience research, student involvement, mentorship, and increasing accessibility through addressing barriers to academia, STEM, and healthcare, both at the university level and in the general community. During her time in Nu Rho Psi, she organized the 2022 Annual Atlanta Neuroscience Symposium on Identity and Bias, the Touch-A-Brain event for the Atlanta Science Festival, & neuroscience themed activity tables to engage K-12 students in Marietta county in neuroscience.

Ibrahim has been involved in research since 2021 with P.I. Dr. Dan Cox, investigating neural mechanisms and the molecular bases underlying the specification of class specific dendrite morphologies, and former PIs Dr. Elliot Albers and Dr. Kim Huhman, studying maternal behavior in V1A receptor knockout Syrian hamsters. For her research efforts, she was a Georgia State University Brains & Behavior Scholar in the B&B Summer Scholars program, which provided competitive summer fellowships to enhance the research experiences of undergraduate students, and selected as a 2023 Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Fellow, an NSF-funded initiative designed to support historically underrepresented students in the STEM fields. For these, she presented her work under the guidance of her P.I. Dr Dan Cox on Investigating protein-protein interaction between Dar1 and dCBP in regulatory processes for dendritic arborization, Does ROS facilitate TRPA1-mediated nociception in Drosophila?

One of the core aspects of Ibrahim’s leadership is her dedication to service. She has served on the board for numerous organizations at Georgia State, including the American Medical Student Association, the Muslim Student Association, the University Student Advisory Board, the Collegiate Neuroscience Society, the Student Judicial Board, Somali Student Association, and Young Physicians Initiative, where she focused on creating open dialogues, celebrating and promoting cultural pride, and increasing the resources, support, and professional and personal opportunities available to her peers. Within the wider community, she has been tremendously impactful in her roles working with refugees and underserved communities as a HealthPREP Ambassador at Emory University School of Medicine, a Lead Project Coordinator for the Program for Refugee Healthcare Literacy, and a volunteer with Grace Village, where she supports healthcare initiatives for underserved communities and refugees, through promotion of healthcare education and resources and assisting families in accessing vital healthcare resources and information, and providing support and mentorship in various areas for newly arrived refugees. She is also the author of The Act is Up, a collection of poems exploring self-discovery, resilience, and self-love amidst life’s challenges.