PEBT
BEAM Team
Director
Joanna Christodoulou, EdD
Director
Telephone: (617) 643-1482
Email: jchristodoulou@mghihp.edu
Dr. Christodoulou is Assistant Professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, as well as Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research is situated at the intersection of education and neuroscience, and aims to use behavioral and brain data to improve student outcomes and optimize educational interventions for struggling learners. Learn more about Dr. Christodoulou.
Post-Doctoral Researchers
Anila D’Mello, PhD
Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Anila is a post-doctoral associate in the Gabrieli Lab at MIT. She is interested in exploring the neural underpinnings of language behaviors across neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and dyslexia.
Doctoral Students
Rachel Romeo, MSc, CF-SLP
Rachel is a doctoral students in the Harvard Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology and conducts research in the Gabrieli Lab at MIT. Her research explores environmental factors contributing to children’s neural and cognitive development, specifically their language and reading acquisition. Currently she is investigating how socioeconomic status (SES) and early language exposure contribute to the neural bases of the “achievement gap.”
Lauren is a doctoral student in the PhD Rehabilitation Sciences program at the MGH Institute. She is an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist based in the Speech and Language Literacy (SAiL) Lab. Lauren is currently the project director for our investigation on reading ability, executive function, and summer slump.
Graduate Students
Heather Beckius, BA
Graduate Assistant
MS-SLP Candidate
Heather is a graduate student in the MS-SLP program at the MGH Institute. She is interested in reading and language disorders in children and is currently completing a master’s thesis about visual processing in children with dyslexia. She hopes to pursue a PhD and continue researching reading disorders, working memory, attention, and executive function in order to impact educational and clinical practices.
Olivia Meegoda, BA
Graduate Assistant
Language and Literacy CAS Candidate
Olivia is a graduate student in the MS-SLP program at the MGH Institute and a candidate for the CAS Language and Literacy certificate. She is pursuing a thesis on reading fluency in populations with ADHD and Dyslexia and hopes to eventually work in the public school system as a speech-language pathologist and reading specialist.
Neha Paranjpe, BA
Graduate Assistant
MS-SLP Candidate
Neha is a candidate for an MS-SLP with a concentration in medical speech pathology at the MGH Institute. The clinical population she is interested in is patients with disordered feeding and swallowing. Her research interests include bilingual language development, the cognitive aspects of literacy, and racial disparities in education.
Allegra Le, BA
Graduate Assistant
MS-SLP Candidate
Allegra is an MS-SLP candidate at the MGH Institute. She is interested in indicators of future reading challenges as well as intervention strategies.
Vanina Zack, BA
Graduate Assistant
MS-SLP Candidate
Claire Leong, BA
Graduate Assistant
MA-MBE Candidate at HGSE
Parnika Bhatia, BA
Graduate Assistant
MA-MBE Candidate at HGSE
Research Assistants
Andrea Imhof, BA
Research Assistant
Dayna Wilmot, BA
Technical Assistant
Dayna recently graduated from MIT after majoring in Brain and Cognitive Sciences. She is interested in the structural basis of learning disorders in children.
BEAM Team Alumni
Dessi Miles
SSJP Summer Research Intern
Mirschille Valmond
SSJP Summer Research Intern
