Showcase Project

Intern Name: Olivia (Olive) McIntosh

Intern Major: Psychology

Intern Year: Sophomore

Supervisor Name(s): Dr. Mohannad Abu Sultanah, Dr. Leslie Hulvershorn

Supervisor Department and School/Hospital Affiliation: IU School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry

Project Title: Neural Response to Risky Decision Making in Youth at High Risk for Substance Use Disorders and HIV

Summary: 

At the Hulvershorn Lab, our mission is to understand the mysteries of the brain mechanisms and environmental factors that drive youth to make risky decisions. We aim to identify the most impactful physiological and environmental factors that affect how the adolescent brain interacts with different choices and the impact of these choices on youth health in the future to foresee the likelihood of developing diseases that will negatively affect the quality of life (like substance use disorder). We investigate the underlying brain mechanisms driving these behaviors through functional MRI scans and risky decision-making tasks. 

We then follow up with participants longitudinally following a prospective cohort research model to track their changes as they grow older into adulthood. This work is very important because it directly influences the well-being of high-risk youth with a family history of substance use disorder, offering insights that will help develop more specific interventions and preventive strategies as we move into the era of personalized medicine, ultimately leading to healthier life trajectories for adolescents.