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Principal Investigator

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Michael Halassa, M.D., Ph.D. , home
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Michael Halassa, M.D., Ph.D.

Mike is a physician-scientist who is interested in understanding how the brain controls thoughts and actions based on an internal model of the world. His Ph.D. with Phil Haydon at the University of Pennsylvania was focused on cellular neuroscience and his postdoctoral work with Matt Wilson at Massachussets Institute of Technology was focused on systems neuroscience. Mike also spends some of his time performing clinical work, focused on treatment of psychotic disorders. An ultimate goal is to come up with a circuit-based computational description of inference and belief updating that would explain how psychotic states arise and provide a clear path towards intervention. In his spare time, Mike likes to hike, run and spend time outdoors.

Mentorship Statement

Mike is committed to each individual’s lab member’s career success and general well-being. He will meet with trainees on a regular basis but has in general an open-door approach and is always available if anyone wants to get in touch with him. Regarding scientific guidance, Mike aims to approach each individual depending on their preferences; people who prefer independence are given high-level advice whereas people who prefer more detailed inputs can receive that as well. In general, trainees define their desired scientific trajectories and Mike’s input is geared towards feasibility, strategy, and when necessary broad alignment with the lab’s scientific mission. Lastly, in addition to individual mentorship, Mike encourages lab members to interact and collaborate such that they learn from one another and develop lasting scientific relationships.

Read Dr. Halassa's Substack