Dr. Scott Kanoski, PhD
Principal Investigator

Professor (Nov. 2023-Present)
Human and Evolutionary Biology Section
Department of Biological Sciences

Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences,
University of Southern California

President of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB)

Co-Director of the USC Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute

-B.S. in Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1996-2000)
-M.S. in Psychology, Purdue University (2003-2006)
-Ph.D. in Psychology, Purdue University (2006-2009) (T.L. Davidson Lab)
-Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania (2009-2012) (H.J. Grill Lab)

-Assistant Professor of Human and Evolutionary Biology, University of Southern California (1/1/13-4/4/19)

-Associate Professor of Human and Evolutionary Biology, University of Southern California (4/5/19-11/20/23)

kristen donohue

Lab Manager (2021-present)

-B.S. in Biology, University of Georgia Athens (2021, Magna cum laude)

Dr. léa décarie-spain

Postdoc (2020-present)

-Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Université de Montréal (2020)

-MSc. in Neuroscience, Université de Montréal (2014)

-Honours Bachelor of Nutritional Sciences, University of Ottowa (2013, Magna cum laude)

-Alzheimer’s Association Fellow (2022-2024)

dr. anna hayes

Postdoc (2021-present)

-Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Food Science, Purdue University (2021)

-B.S. in Food and Nutrition Science, St. Catherine University (2014; Valedictorian, Summa cum laude)

-NIH NRSA F32 Fellow (2022-2025)

Jessica Rea

Ph.D. Candidate (2021-present; Neuroscience Program)

-B.S. in Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, (2019, Summa cum laude)

-NIH NRSA F31 Fellow (2023-2026)

Keshav Subramanian

Ph.D. Candidate (2020-present; Neuroscience Program)

-B.S. in Chemistry and B.A. in Neurobiology, University of California, Berkeley (2019)

-NIH T32 predoctoral fellow (2020-2021)

-NSF GRFP predoctoral fellow (2021-2024)

Molly Klug

Ph.D. Candidate (2021-present; Integrative and Evolutionary Biology Program)

-B.S. in Psychology, B.A. in Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago (2020, Summa cum laude)

Zander Bashaw

Ph.D. Candidate (2022-present; Neuroscience Program)

-B.S. in Biology and Italian, Vassar College (2018)

alicia kao

Research Technician (2022-present)

-B.A. in Neuroscience, B.A. in Psychology, USC (2022; Summa cum laude; 2022 USC Neuroscience Outstanding Student of the Year)

Lab Alumni

Dr. Ted Hsu

PhD in Neuroscience from USC (2013-2017)

-George A. Bray Dissertation Award (The Obesity Society, 2018)
-NIH F31 NRSA Fellow (NIDDK; 2016-2017)

-Harrison M. Kurtz Memorial Award (for most outstanding PhD student in biological sciences at USC, 2017)
-Graduate Student of the Year Award (USC Neuroscience Graduate Program, 2016)
-G.P. Smith Award (for best graduate student presentation at SSIB, 2015)
-Postdoc in the Roitman Lab at UIC and an NIH F32 NRSA Fellow (2017-2022)

-Presently a freelance science writer

dr. Vaibhav Konanur

Lab Manager and First Officer (2013-2016)

-PhD in Psychology from the Roitman Lab at UIC (2016-2022)

-Presently a postdoc in the Zak Lab at UIC (2022-present)

Dr. Emily Noble

Postdoc, Research Assistant Professor (2015-2019)

-K01 Award (NIDDK; 2019-2023)
-NIH F32 NRSA Fellow (NIDDK; 2016-2018)
-Early Career Grant Challenge Competition Winner (The Obesity Society, 2017-2018)

--Ethan Sims Early Investigator Award (The Obesity Society, 2017)
-Harry L. Kisseleff Award (for best postdoc presentation at the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, 2015)

-Presently an Associate Professor (with tenure) at the University of Georgia (Athens), Noble Lab.

UNDERGRADUATES, POST-BACCS, AND PHD ROTATIONS (2013-Present)

• Megan Marentes (2023; USC Summer Program in Diabetes and Obesity Research [SPIDOR] Program for outstanding underrepresented students in science and medicine)

• Iris Deng (B.S. in Neuroscience, 2023; USC Presidential Scholar; Provost Fellow; SOAR Fellow; SURF Fellow)

• Grace Schwartz (B.S. in Psychology, 2023; USC Dean’s Scholar; Provost Fellow; SOAR Fellow)

• Kara McBurnett (B.S. in Health and Human Sciences, 2022; Provost Fellow; 2022 1st place for USC Undergraduate Symposium research presentation)

• Alicia Kao (B.S. in Neuroscience and Psychology, 2022; URAP Fellow; Dornsife Neuroscience Fellow; USC Outstanding Neuroscience Student of the Year Award, 2022)

• Isabella Gianatiempo (B.S. in Computational Neuroscience, 2022; Dornsife Neuroscience Fellow; Provost Fellow; URAP Fellow; WiSE Fellow; Recipient of the Brian Phillip Rakusin Neuroscience Scholarship Award; SOAR Fellow)

• Rita Ohan (B.S. in Human Biology, 2022; USC Trustee Scholar & Norman Topping Scholar; Recipient of the Milo Don Appleman Award; SOAR Fellow)

• Chinaza Udekwe (2022; USC Summer Program in Diabetes and Obesity Research [SPIDOR] Program for outstanding underrepresented students in science and medicine)

• John Ramos (2022; USC Summer Program in Diabetes and Obesity Research [SPIDOR] Program for outstanding underrepresented students in science and medicine)

• Lana Bridi (B.S. in Human Biology, 2021; B.S. in Mathematics; USC Stamps Scholar, USC Dornsife Ambassador, Recipient of the Okin Scholarship in Biological Sciences)

• April Li (B.S. in Human Biology, 2021)

• Rae Lan (B.S. in Neuroscience, 2020; USC Trustee Scholar, Recipient of the USC Neuroscience Outstanding Student of the Year Award, Recipient of the Global Scholar Prize for Graduate Study, Recipient of the Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship, Recipient of the Rose Hills Research Award, Provost Fellow, SOAR Fellow, 2nd place for USC Undergraduate Symposium research presentation)

• Logan Tierno (2019; USC Summer Program in Diabetes and Obesity Research [SPIDOR] Program for outstanding underrepresented students in science and medicine)

• Jamie Clarke (B.S. in Human Biology, 2019; USC Trustee Scholar, Recipient of the Don Milo Appleman Award, Provost Fellow, SOAR Fellow, 1st place for USC Undergraduate Symposium research presentation)

• Lekha Chirala (B.S. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, 2019; URAP Fellow)

• Victor Lee (B.S. in Human Biology, 2019; USC Presidential Scholar, Provost Fellow, SOAR Fellow)

• Ryan Fatemi (B.S. in Neuroscience, 2019; SOAR Fellow)

• Emily Wan (B.S. in Neuroscience, 2019; USC Grace Ford Salvatori Scholar, USC J. Wesley Robb Endowed Scholar, USC Sylas and Rose Marx Meyer Scholar)

• Tanisha London (Neuroscience Graduate Student Rotation, 2019)

• Anish Reddy (B.S. in Neuroscience in 2018; SOAR Fellow, SURF Fellow)

• Emily Nakamoto (B.S. in Neuroscience in 2017; SOAR Fellow, Provost Fellow)

• Kaitlin Sontag (B.S. in Human Biology in 2017; SOAR Fellow, SURF Fellow, USC Presidential Scholar)

• Natalie Demirjian (B.S. in Human Biology in 2017; SURF Fellow)

• April Banayan (B.S. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in 2017)

• Ahyun Jung (Neuroscience Graduate Student Rotation, 2017)

• Danielle Rider (Postbaccalaureate Premed Program, 2016-17)

• Caroline Szujewski (Postbaccalaureate Researcher, 2016-17, B.S. in Neuroscience in 2014)

• Allison Apfel (B.S. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in 2016; Provost Fellow, URAP Fellow)

• Nikita Shirsat (B.S. candidate in Neuroscience; WISE fellow)

• Lilly Taing (B.S. in Health and Humanity in 2016; Recipient of the Fulbright U.S. Student Award, Provost Fellow, SURF Fellow, USC Presidential Scholar)

• Jessica Thai (B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2016; SOAR Fellow, SURF Fellow, Provost Fellow, USC Presidential Scholar)

• Sandhya Prathap (Neuroscience Graduate Student Rotation, 2016)

• Monica Song (Neuroscience Graduate Student Rotation, 2015-16)

• Augstina Kim (B.S. in Human Biology in 2015; SCynergy Awardee, Provost Fellow)

• Ryan Usui (B.S. in Human Biology in 2015; Provost Fellow)

• Joanna Liang (B.S. in Psychology in 2015; SOAR Fellow, SURF Fellow, Psychology Honors Graduate, USC Deans Scholar)

• Mehul Trivedi (B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2015; Provost Fellow, URAP Fellow, USC Presidential Scholar)

• Hrant Gevorgian (B.S. in Human Biology in 2015)

• Jonathan Cheung (Neuroscience Graduate Student Rotation, 2014-15)

• Ashley Lam (B.S. in Neuroscience in 2014; SOAR Fellow, SURF Fellow)