BRAIN Lab

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Research Laboratory of Andreas Rauschecker, MD, PhD

Dr. Leo Sugrue is a neuroscientist and neuroradiologist who researches the brain circuits that control complex thought and behavior and their involvement in mental illness. He has a joint appointment in Psychiatry and works closely with colleagues at the Dolby Center for Mood Disorders and the Weill Institute for Neurosciences to develop novel circuit-based approaches to image and treat neuropsychiatric conditions using closed-loop brain stimulation and brain-directed focused ultrasound. 

Sugrue directs the Laboratory for Precision Neuroimaging at UCSF, which emphasizes integrating brain imaging with genetic, health, and behavioral data to better understand, diagnose, and treat brain disease. He is a co-investigator for the National Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study (ABCD), and his group works to leverage “big data” from studies like ABCD to better understand neuropsychiatric disorders and improve their diagnosis and treatment in individual patients.

Sugrue completed his undergraduate education and PhD in Neuroscience at Stanford University and received his MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed residency in diagnostic radiology and fellowship in Neuroradiology at UCSF before joining the faculty in 2014. He co-founded the Fucused Ultrasound in Neuroscience program (FUN) at UCSF, a multidisciplinary effort to use brain-directed focused ultrasound to treat movement disorders like Essential Tremor and to develop it as a tool to modulate brain activity with high spatial and temporal precision. Leo grew up in Dublin and visits Ireland regularly, in his spare time he enjoys cooking, gardening, and tinkering with old motorcycles.

Radhika is an Associate Research Specialist in the lab, focusing on developing tools and applying artificial intelligence and deep learning to increase understanding of the brain and disease progression. Radhika completed her undergraduate education in Bioengineering and Data Science at UC Berkeley. In her free time, she sings Hindustani Classical music and tutoring math and science to high school and college students.

Josh Chen is a 4th year MD student at UCSF interested in diagnostic radiology. Josh completed his undergraduate degree in Public Health at UC Berkeley in 2018. Josh’s current research involves deep learning algorithms in assisting radiologists’ with the interpretation of infant myelination status on MRI. His work focuses on identifying high quality datasets for machine learning models, biases in datasets, and data subanalyses. Additional research interests include 3D printing in medicine. 

Céleste is a Masters student at École polytechnique, where she studies Applied Mathematics. Her research focuses on developing deep learning models on MRI data to detect anomalies in the brain's white matter structure related to ADHD. Outside of work, she enjoys dancing, reading and cooking.

Samuel is a research fellow supported through the Yearlong Inquiry program through the UCSF School of Medicine Inquiry Office. Samuels’ work is centered around understanding behavior and neuropsychiatric disease through the combination of neuroimaging, big data, and electrophysiology to improve both our fundamental understanding and patient care. Samuel received his BA from Hampshire College in 2012 and started at UCSF School of Medicine in 2019. 

Pierre is a Data & Computer Scientist in the lab, focusing on developing new methods and tools to enable the lab's various research projects. He strives to develop and adapt both traditional statistical & imaging methods and state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms, and is passionate about teaching these methods to other lab members. Pierre completed a Bachelor in Mathematics & Physics and a Master of Science in Bioengineering from Ecole polytechnique in Paris, and a Master of Translational Medicine between UC Berkeley and UCSF. He previously co-founded a medical device startup with a UCSF researcher and helped a metal 3D printing for medical devices startup grow from 2 employees to 20. In his free time, he loves backpacking, sailing, biking, or playing the piano and guitar to singalong with friends.

Simon Pan is a graduate of the UCSF MSTP program and an incoming diagnostic radiology resident at UCSF who is interested in neuroradiology. His research interests are centered on using informatics methods to investigate multimodal interactions of environmental, genetic, and socioeconomic factors on brain development, plasticity, and neuropsychiatric disease. Outside of work, Simon enjoys running a cooking & food photography blog, rock climbing, fishing/crabbing, kayaking, playing music, reading/writing about history, and cycling.

Stephen received his MD from Duke University in 2019 and is currently a third-year diagnostic radiology resident at UCSF. His research interests include developing deep learning-based tools to streamline the radiology workflow, specifically with regard to interpretation of brain MRI exams for follow-up of multiple sclerosis. Outside of work, he enjoys hiking, water sports, and traveling.

Minerva received her MD from the Washington University in St Louis and is currently a second year diagnostic radiology resident at UCSF. Her research involves the automated segmentation of fetal brain MRI. Outside of work, her interests include sitting outside and eating delicious food.

Justin Huynh is an assistant research specialist in the lab, focused on building deep learning models to detect cognitive and neurological disorders from brain MRI.  He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from the University of California at San Diego. He is broadly interested in applications of artificial intelligence to radiology, ophthalmology, and other areas of medicine and healthcare.

Soo is a second-year MD student at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. He's interested in leveraging artificial intelligence and neuroimaging to better understand human cognition and develop prognostic tools for neurological and psychiatric disorders. When he's not looking at brain images, he enjoys watching movies, going on hikes, and jamming with friends.

Rahul is a second-year undergraduate at UC Berkeley majoring in Computer Science. His research is centered around clustering methods for MRI diagnoses. Outside of work, he enjoys playing soccer and poker.