Post Docs/Residents/Fellows
Dr. Hamilton is a biobehavioral pain postdoctoral fellow in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and an awardee of the University of Florida Center for Advancing Minority Pain and Aging Science (CAMPAS) Pilot Project Awards for Research on Pain, Aging, and Disability. In 2021 she began working with Dr. Sibille to hone her expertise in allostatic load, cellular aging, and pain research, with a particular focus on the physiological consequences of higher chronic pain stage. Her current primary project leverages a large number of saliva samples that were collected from individuals who were healthy or had a chronic musculoskeletal condition (i.e., knee osteoarthritis, temporomandibular disorder) to examine how higher chronic pain stage and sleep disturbances are related to telomere length.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Pratscher is a postdoctoral fellow in an integrative and multidisciplinary pain and aging research training program at the University of Florida. He is interested in examining the effectiveness and mechanisms of action of various mind-body and integrative interventions to improve health, vitality, stress, chronic pain, aging, and well-being. Dr. Pratscher is particularly drawn to psychedelic-assisted therapies and breathwork and how both can alter consciousness and support the body’s natural ability to heal.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Buchanan is a MERIT/IRACDA Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She earned a doctoral degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology from the University of Florida. Dr. Buchanan’s research currently focuses on understanding how exercise and pain impact mobility and cardiovascular function of older adults.
Medical/Graduate/Doctoral Students
Medical Student
Margaret Ann is a current fourth year MD candidate at the University of Florida College of Medicine. She previously studied Neurobiological Sciences and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Florida while conducting research under Dr. Andrew Maurer at the McKnight Brain Institute. Her previous research addressed neurologic mechanisms of weighted decision making and spatial working memory. She has a continued interest in the impact of diet, behavior, exercise, and lifestyle on neurocognitive functioning and health throughout the lifespan, including during fetal development, pregnancy, and aging. She is currently exploring the implications of intermittent fasting for chronic pain conditions.
Jesse is a fourth-year medical student at the College of Medicine at the University of Florida. He graduated from Brandeis University with a B.S. in Neuroscience in 2017. After graduation, he worked as a research assistant and clinical trial coordinator in the Cardio-oncology Program and Center for Advanced Heart Failure at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. He also served as a volunteer pianist at the hospital. Jesse’s clinical interests include chronic pain management, mechanisms of neuropathic pain and neuroplasticity, improving patient education and adherence, and prehabilitation. Outside of medicine, Jesse’s interests include playing soccer, running, pilates, jazz and blues, freestyle rapping, and playing the piano, harmonica and guitar. He is currently researching mechanisms and applications of intermittent fasting in pain management.
Udell Holmes III is a second-year PhD student at the College of Public Health & Health Professions at the University of Florida. In 2019 he participated in an internship called Summer of Translational Aging and Research for Undergraduates with Columbia University where he examined relationships between subjective cognitive decline and functional connectivity. He graduated from Cleveland State University with a bachelor’s in psychology in 2020. His research interests include finding predictive values in aging, health disparities, and pain. With his love for the brain, he loves learning about neuroscience and finds genuine interest in learning from diverse and unique viewpoints of others to inspire him.
Kara is a first-year clinical psychology PhD student in the College of Public Health & Health Professions at the University of Florida. She earned her master’s degree in psychological sciences in 2022, during which she examined novel scoring paradigms for a neuropsychological test in a sample of older adults. Prior to this, she worked as a psychometrist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. Kara is passionate about community health and has also served as a volunteer for several community health organizations. Her current research interests include the detection of cognitive decline and impairment, and health equity and disparities.
2022 MSRP Students
Isis Sweeney
Logan Pucci
Olivier Barolette
Ahmed Rashid
2021 MSRP Student
Bankole Olowofela