Meet our team
Ioana Carcea M.D./Ph.D.
Ioana grew up in Romania, where she studied medicine. She came to the US for her doctoral studies on developmental mechanisms of neural circuit assembly, working with Deanna Benson at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She then worked with Robert Froemke at NYU School of Medicine, on neuromodulatory mechanisms for auditory perception, attention and social (maternal) behavior.
Likes: rock climbing (sadly no longer practicing), tennis, NBA, her nephews, Bruce & Milo (canine friends)
Rumi Oyama
Researcher Teaching Specialist
Rumi grew up in Japan and graduated from Azabu University with a B.S. in Animal Science and Biotechnology, working on the effect of developmental oxytocinergic neurons in social behavior with Drs. Takefumi Kikusui and Kazataka Mogi. She has crossed the ocean to do collaborative research with Dr. Robert Froemke at NYU School of Medicine, where she learned physiological recording in cingulate cortex and paraventricular nucleus during the social behavior.
Likes: Kochi (her standard poodle), playing the piano, bouldering
Hunter Lanovoi
PhD Candidate
Hunter grew up in New York before moving to Florida to attend Rollins College as a student athlete, attaining a bachelors degree in molecular biology and biochemistry. His undergraduate research work resulted in a first author publication in the Journal of Natural Products and catalyzed his interest in basic research. He is now interested in the molecular development of emotional and social cognition.
Likes: Surfing/ snowboarding, Playing guitar, Swimming/ lifting
Zahra Adahman
PhD Candidate
Zahra was born and raised in Nigeria. She came to the US to pursue higher education, graduated from Randolph College with honors, and gained a Masters degree in biomedical science from Rutgers University. She has prior research experience with traumatic brain injury, various tauopathies, ultrasonic vocalizations in mouse models of autism, and fragile X syndrome. She is currently interested in studying the oxytonergic pathways involved in maternal behavior, learning and social buffering.
Likes: Tea, podcasts, TEDTalks, and yoga.
Hannah Lamont
PhD Candidate
Hannah was raised in the Catskill Mountains of Upstate NY. She completed a clinical doctorate in chiropractic medicine and a master’s degree in neuroanatomy from D’Youville University in Buffalo NY. Her long-term goal is to understand the neural mechanism underlying a compassionate care medical model. Her dissertation work is focuses on the intersection between social neural circuits and glucose homeostasis.
Biswaranjan Sahoo
Postdoctoral Fellow
Biswa grew up in India where he obtained his integrated bachelor’s degree in science and education (B.Sc.B.Ed) and master’s degree in Zoology from Utkal University. His doctoral studies focused on the role of protein tyrosine sulfation in long-term memory and long-term potentiation using a rat model from National Brain Research Centre. He is currently interested in social thermoregulation and social learning and memory.
Likes: Yoga, Cricket, Tennis, Biking and Hiking