Cognitive Sequences: Parallel Cross-Species Dynamics in Lateral Prefrontal Cortex

The Department welcomes Theresa Desrochers, PhD on March 4, 2026 for a Special Guest Lecture on the Cognitive Sequences: Parallel Cross-Species Dynamics in Lateral Prefrontal Cortex.

Dr. Desrochers is Rosenberg Family Associate Professor of Brain Science in the neuroscience department at Brown University. Her lab studies how the brain tracks and controls cognitive and behavioral sequences, such as cooking a meal or making a cup of coffee. In her research, she takes a unique cross-species approach, integrating cellular-level neuroscience insight in animal models with studies of human high-level cognitive function. Dr. Desrochers earned a BS in neural science and science education from New York University. After teaching science in a public high school for a year, she went on to earn her PhD in Ann Graybiel’s lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying the neural basis of habit learning in an animal model. She was then a postdoctoral fellow with David Badre at Brown University, where she studied human cognitive control.

Join us for this in-person lecture in the UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital Auditorium.

For More Information. Please contact Shardai Key Ward at keysj4@upmc.edu.