Meet Our Team | Boston Children's Research

Principal Investigator

Carol Wilkinson, MD, PhD

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Carol L. Wilkinson is a physician-scientist in the Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Division of Developmental Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. She earned her MD, PhD, and completed her pediatric residency at the University of California, San Francisco. At UCSF, her graduate work in Steven Finkbeiner’s lab focused on molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity. She completed her clinical fellowship in developmental behavioral pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2017, and continued her postdoctoral training with Charles Nelson in the Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience. As a Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician in the Autism Spectrum Center and Developmental Medicine Center at Boston Children’s, she cares for children with a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders and challenges. Through her research and clinical work, her goal is to help children maximize their potential in all aspects of their life.

Staff Members

	Malena Aylwin Malena joined the LCN in the summer of 2022 after graduating from Providence College with a degree in psychology and neuroscience. She recently transitioned and joined Dr. Wilkinson and Dr. Nelson’s Baby Steps team earlier in 2024. She will mainly be focusing on behavioral assessments and conducting the visits with our Spanish-speaking participants. Being raised in Puerto Rico, she is particularly interested in how environmental exposure impacts the language and general development of multilingual and underrepresented children in the United States. She intends to pursue a PhD degree that will enable her to continue working with kids of diverse abilities and backgrounds. In her free time, Malena likes to read books, go out for coffee with her friends, and sing.
	Anjali Bose Anjali is a new member of the Wilkinson Lab working on the BRIDGE study. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College where she studied psychology and neuroscience, and worked in the DEER Lab investigating the effects of early adversity. Anjali is interested in studying early life experiences, neurodevelopment, and language acquisition, and loves working with young kids. Anjali enjoys reading, trying new foods, and cooking with her friends. She is excited to explore Boston and is looking forward to meeting everyone at the LCN!
	Gabriela Canaveral Gabriela joined Dr. Wilkinson and Dr. Nelson’s Baby Steps team in 2024 after having graduated from Binghamton University in 2023 with a B.S. in Integrative Neuroscience. While at Binghamton University, Gabriela was the Lab Manager at the Center for Transdisciplinary Intimate Relationships Lab, volunteered as an EMT, and worked with children with autism as a teacher’s assistant at the Institute for Child Development. After completing her studies, Gabriela relocated to Boston to work as a Clinical Assistant on the Bone Marrow Transplant floor at Boston Children’s Hospital where she worked with patients who confronted challenges stemming from genetic mutations, cancer or sickle cell disease. As part of the Baby Steps team, she will work with EEG and behavioral assessments to identify markers of Autism or other neurodevelopmental delays/disorders. Gabriela aims to pursue an M.D. path with a focus in Pediatrics and is determined to bridge gaps in research for underserved communities and advocate for Latinx/Black populations in healthcare! In her free time she enjoys going for long walks, coffee runs, and dancing with her friends.
	Kathryn Crowley Katie joined Dr. Wilkinson and Dr. Nelson’s Baby Steps team in 2025 after graduating from Emmanuel College in 2025 with a B.S. in Neuroscience and Developmental Psychology. While at Emmanuel, Katie was a student research intern in the Baby Steps study and is excited to continue her work now as a research assistant. During college she completed an internship at the Boston Child Study Center, was a research assistant in the Lifespan Laboratory at Emmanuel College and volunteered in the medical unit at Franciscan Children’s Hospital. On the Baby Steps team, she primarily works in the clinic, acquiring EEG data from infants in the Primary Care Clinic to identify biomarkers of developmental delays and autism in early brain activity. In her free time, Katie loves to hike with friends, go antiquing, and work on craft projects. She hopes to pursue a career as a neuropsychologist!
	Gabriela Davila Mejia Gabriela was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, where she earned her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Mathematics from the University of the Andes. She subsequently completed her M.A. in Psychology at Boston University. In July 2023, Gabriela transitioned to her current role as Data Manager for the Wilkinson and Nelson Labs, after working as a Research Assistant for the Nelson Lab for one year. She is passionate about characterizing and understanding neurodevelopmental disorders with the goal of impacting diagnostic accuracy as well as intervention design. She is motivated by the importance of effective data management practices to ensure the integrity and reliability of research findings. In her free time, Gabriela enjoys handcrafting, baking, and spending time outdoors.
	Janani Elumalai Janani joined Dr. Wilkinson's and Dr. Nelson's Baby Steps team after graduating from Northeastern University in 2025 with a major in Behavioral Neuroscience & minor in Law & Public Policy. Throughout her undergraduate years, she worked as a student research intern on the BRIDGE study in Dr. Wilkinson's lab and completed a senior thesis analyzing VEP responses. Janani will be working with the Baby Steps team to use EEG in the Primary Care Clinic to better identify early biomarkers of developmental delay and ASD. In her free time, she loves to read and choreograph or learn various dance styles. She hopes to pursue an M.D. track in the future!
	Brianna Francis Brianna joined Dr. Wilkinson and Dr. Nelson’s lab in the fall of 2021 as a Research Coordinator for the Baby Steps project, which uses EEG to predict ASD and other developmental outcomes in the first year of life. She received her BS in Neuroscience at Quinnipiac University in 2016 and her MA in Applied Developmental Psychology from George Mason University in 2020. After receiving her BS, Brianna worked at the Yale Child Study Center on multiple projects examining the neural mechanisms of pregnancy and parenting with a substance using population. Brianna is thrilled to be part of the Baby Steps team and to contribute to the field of ASD research. Outside of the lab, Brianna loves reading, hiking, and hanging out with her cat.
	Tanya Gaytan Tanya joined Dr. Wilkinson and Dr. Nelson’s Baby Steps team in 2025 as a Clinical Research Assistant. She graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University in 2024 with a B.A. in psychology. As an undergraduate, she interned at Columbia University Irving Medical Center under Dr. Amy Margolis working on projects using neuroimaging techniques to identify early biomarkers for neurodevelopmental disorders. After graduating, she worked under Dr. Julie Herbstman at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health researching the impact of prenatal exposure to environmental pollutants on infant neurodevelopment. In addition to research, she has clinical experience working with children with ASD and Selective Mutism.
	Joshua Jenkins Joshua joined Dr. Wilkinson’s and Dr. Nelson’s Baby Steps team during summer 2025 after graduating from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Biological Sciences. As an undergraduate, he worked in Awatramani Lab at the Feinberg School of Medicine to characterize dopamine neuron molecular markers in the mouse midbrain and assess dopamine neuron projections. He also worked on developmental and clinical research studies in the Developmental Mechanisms Lab at the Feinberg School of Medicine and Zinbarg Lab at Northwestern University, in which he performed behavioral coding and served as a coach for mindfulness and expressive writing interventions with adolescents. At the LCN, Joshua is excited to help characterize EEG-based biomarkers of developmental delays such as ASD to improve early identification. In his free time, Joshua likes to go for long walks, listen to social commentaries, and try new cafes and restaurants. Ultimately, Joshua plans to become a physician-scientist.
	Elizabeth Kolln Elizabeth recently graduated from Wellesley College with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and German Studies. She is joining the Down Syndrome Program and the Wilkinson Lab as a Clinical Research Assistant in the Research Scholars Program. Elizabeth will primarily be working on the CAPE and Birthday studies but plans to also complete an independent research project as a research scholar. Outside of the lab, Elizabeth enjoys reading, crocheting, being outdoors, and watching movies.
	Nina Madeddu Nina joined the Baby Steps project after graduating from Trinity College Dublin in 2025, where her thesis focused on using EEG to identify biomarkers of disease progression. She’s especially interested in neurology, neurodevelopment, and developing early intervention strategies to improve quality of life and clinical outcomes. Outside of the lab, Nina loves reading, gaming, and taking care of her ever-growing plant collection. She is super excited to join the LCN team and work with children and their families!
	Meagan Tsou Meagan joined Dr. Wilkinson’s lab in the fall of 2023 after receiving her B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience at Northeastern University. As part of the BRIDGE team, she works with EEG and behavioral assessments to help better understand how children with and without neurodevelopmental disorders acquire language. Using her prior experiences in autism research and neuropsychiatric testing, and her now role at the Wilkinson Lab, she hopes to pursue a PhD program that allows her to continue working with children of all abilities and backgrounds. She is especially interested in studying differences in neurological development across varying access to and use of intervention services, and how these differences can inform policies to make both research and early intervention more accessible. In her free time Meagan loves to cook and bake, work on her art projects, and hang out with her dog, Pepper!

Graduate & Medical Students

Anna Stewart

Anna earned a B.S. degree in communication disorders and psychology from Texas State University, gaining practical experience as a student clinician in a speech-language hearing clinic. During her undergraduate research, she collaborated on developing an app for pragmatic intervention in remote therapy settings for children with autism, addressing barriers in underserved communities. This app was piloted and validated for her honors thesis, supported by a research fellowship. Anna’s career goal is to become an academic clinician-scientist, combining clinical practice with research. She is pursuing a specialized track in the Speech Hearing Bioscience Technology doctoral program at Harvard Medical School where she will receive clinical certification in Speech-Language Pathology while continuing her bioscience training. In the Wilkinson Lab, Anna is involved in the BRIDGE study, developing natural language sampling protocols to understand language profiles and factors influencing language development in children with autism and Down syndrome.

Grace Kromm, PhD

Grace received her PhD in Clinical Neurosciences from the University of Cambridge in 2024 under the supervision of Prof. Topun Austin and Prof. Victoria Leong and the support of the Dr. Herchel Smith Fellowship. For her PhD, Grace studied neural activity in the first days after birth using mother-newborn dual-EEG. Specifically, Grace’s work characterized intra-brain and inter-brain functional connectivity during maternal affectionate touch as well as the impact of neonatal brain injury. Here at the LCN, Grace studies EEG functional connectivity in young children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Grace is a current MD student at Harvard Medical School, where she leads disability advocacy efforts, advances health policy with the Massachusetts Medical Society, and works to improve the medical education curriculum. In her future career, Grace hopes to research and treat pediatric neurological disorders as a physician-scientist. Grace also loves to sing in the Longwood Chorus, Boston’s medical and science choir.

Postdoctoral and Clinical Fellows

	Wenkang 'Winko' An, PhD I received my Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2021, under the supervision of Prof. Barbara Shinn-Cunningham. My dissertation work sought to study the neural representation of human auditory attention. Specifically, I decoded attentional control from multimodal neuroimaging measures (EEG and fMRI) and fused the information in these modalities through a representational similarity analysis framework. In addition, I designed multiple auditory brain-computer interface paradigms, in which I decoded attention from single-trial EEG signals using machine learning. I joined the Nelson and Wilkinson Labs in 2021 as a Rosamund Stone Zander and Hansjoerg Wyss Translational Neuroscience Center Postdoctoral Fellow. My goals here are to understand the neural mechanism underlying impaired abilities in patients with a rare genetic condition, and build computational models that can reliably predict autism and developmental outcomes from EEG.
	Haerin Chung, PhD Haerin received her PhD. from University of Chicago in 2022, where she was a member of the Infant Learning and Development Laboratory at the Center for Early Childhood Research. At UChicago, her graduate work in Amanda Woodward’s lab focused on the link between infants' experience and perception of actions. She investigated the neural correlates that underlie infants’ perception of actions that are associated with infants' experience using an integration of EEG and behavioral methods. Here at the LCN, Haerin seeks to explore the developmental changes in EEG measures, including the trajectory of functional connectivity, of those with, without, and at-risk for autism. Haerin is also interested in understanding how early indices of EEG are associated with different social-cognitive outcomes later in development.
	Erin Matsuba, PhD Erin received her PhD in School Psychology with a Concentration in Neuroscience from Syracuse University in 2024, where she was a member of the Center for Autism Research and Electrophysiology Lab led by Dr. Natalie Russo. Erin's research integrates developmental theory with neurophysiological methods to investigate neural biomarkers of autism. Clinically, Erin takes a patient-centered and strengths-based approach to neurodevelopmental assessments and is passionate about improving the healthcare experiences of patients and their families. She is excited to join the Wilkinson and Nelson Labs to learn and apply advanced EEG techniques to investigate neurodevelopmental outcomes.
	Becca Thomas, PhD Becca received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 2024, where she was a member of the Early Detection Lab (Drs. Fein and Barton) and the Connecticut Autism and Language Lab (Dr. Eigsti). Her research has focused on the diagnostic process for Autism Spectrum Disorder by examining questions such as the diagnostic items that distinguish toddlers with ASD from those with global developmental delay, and the validity of online administrations of the ADOS in adolescents and young adults. For her dissertation, she created the Initial Diagnostic Impressions Checklist to quantify the behaviors that clinicians use to form initial diagnostic impressions, and whether these impressions are accurate. Clinically, Becca is interested in complex neurodevelopmental cases and pediatric neuropsychological assessments. She is excited to join the Wilkinson Lab and to participate in interdisciplinary research that aims to better understand and characterize the neurodevelopmental process in young children.

Undergraduate Students

	Tanisha Chanda Tanisha is a 3rd year biomedical engineering student at Georgia Tech. She is interested in pursuing interdisciplinary research focusing on pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders, health disparities, and genetics.
	Xinran Hou Xinran is an undergraduate student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Interaction Design. She works as a Co-op student in the Wilkinson Lab BRIDGE study and R21 project. She is involved in behavioral coding and transcription in the lab, and also serves as a behavioral assistant during study visits. She is passionate about research in neurodevelopmental disorders and its potential to support children with special needs.
	Michael Khela As a student at Tufts University majoring in biopsychology and child development, I combine my passion for understanding the human mind with hands-on experience as a nurse assistant at BIDMC. When I’m not volunteering with patients, you can find me hiking new trails, exploring the world through travel, or enjoying time with friends!
	Emily Kim Emily is an undergraduate student (Class of 2027) at Harvard College majoring in Neuroscience on the Mind, Brain, Behavior track. She joined the Wilkinson Lab as a Student Research Intern and works on the Baby Steps and BRIDGE transcription teams. Emily is interested in researching cognitive neuroscience across molecular, cellular, and behavioral levels. In her free time, Emily enjoys going on runs along the Charles River and trying new restaurants (and rating them on Beli)!
	Alexis Monk Alexis Monk is a junior at Harvard College concentrating in Neuroscience on the Mind, Brain, Behavior track with a citation in American Sign Language. She joined the Wilkinson Lab as a student intern in January 2023 and works on both the BRIDGE and Baby Steps studies. Alexis is also a member of the Harvard Radcliffe Heavyweight Rowing team and a Harvard Peer Advising Fellow.
	Luke Shimizu Luke is a Neuroscience major at Boston College and an undergraduate research intern in the Wilkinson Lab, where he works on the BRIDGE study transcription team. He is an EMT and coxswain for the BC Men’s Crew, where he enjoys the challenge of navigating both high-pressure races and clinical settings. Outside of academics and the lab, Luke spends his time running, self-studying Japanese, and hanging out with friends.
	Saketh Sundar Saketh is an undergraduate at Harvard College (Class of 2027) concentrating in Neuroscience and Linguistics, with a particular interest in language acquisition in children. Saketh joined the lab in Fall 2024 and is involved in both the BRIDGE and Baby Steps studies, where he assists with study visits and data analysis. In his free time, Saketh enjoys watching football, cooking, and reporting on news for his college newspaper.
	Shubhan Swamy Shubhan is a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, studying Biology and Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. He is interested in the neural mechanisms underlying language acquisition and how developmental disabilities affect learning. In his free time, he enjoys running, reading, and playing the saxophone.
	Shefali Verma Shefali is a Behavioral Neuroscience and Data Science student at Northeastern University. In the lab, she hand-edits EEG recordings of children listening to various sounds, hoping to better understand how those with different types of neurodevelopmental disorders process language. She also writes code to automate and manage some of the lab’s data.