Lab members
Robb rutledge
principal investigator
Robb is an assistant professor of psychology and psychiatry at Yale University. He is also a member of the Wu Tsai Institute at Yale. Robb completed a BSc in Biology at Caltech and a PhD in Neural Science at New York University supervised by Paul Glimcher. He was a postdoc at University College London at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging working with Ray Dolan and Peter Dayan. Prior to moving to Yale, Robb was a Group Leader at the Max Planck Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research at University College London. He has won early career awards including the MRC Career Development Award, the Society for Neuroeconomics Early Career Award, and the APS Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions. Robb is interested in subjective feelings like happiness and sadness, and how feelings relate to events in our lives and to the decisions we make.
scholar | twitter | Email: robb.rutledge (all email addresses have the domain yale.edu unless otherwise noted)
chang-hao kao
PostDoctoral researcher
Chang-Hao is a postdoctoral associate at Yale in the Rutledge Lab. He did his PhD in Psychology at University of Pennsylvania supervised by Joe Kable. In his PhD research, he combined computational modeling and functional neuroimaging to understand human learning in dynamic environments. He is currently studying functional brain network and mood dynamics during learning in the general population and in mood disorders.
AKSHAY nAIr
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER
Akshay is a consultant neuropsychiatrist at Atkinson Morley Regional Neurosciences Centre at St George’s Hospital. He was a Leonard Wolfson Clinical Training Fellow for his PhD research at UCL supervised by Robb, Sarah Tabrizi, and Geraint Rees. He uses behavioural paradigms, computational modelling and neuroimaging to better understand the mechanisms driving loss of motivation in the general population and patients with Huntington’s disease, a familial neurodegenerative condition. Before moving to UCL, Akshay was a NIHR-funded Academic Clinical Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry (KCL) where he did research in schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. He completed his medical degree, and an intercalated degree in neuroscience, at Oxford University.
Joey Heffner
Postdoctoral researcher
Joey is a postdoctoral associate at Yale in the Rutledge Lab. He received his PhD from Brown University under the mentorship of Oriel FeldmanHall, where he studied how violations of emotion expectations predict social decisions such as punishing norm transgressors. His current research combines computational modelling, longitudinal experience sampling, and neuroimaging to explore questions like: What is the functional role of emotions in learning and choice? How are emotions organized and related to low-level constructs like mood and core affect? How do different symptoms of depression including apathy, avolition, and low mood relate to everyday decisions? Joey is interested in identifying computational assays and brain networks that map onto different depression dimensions.
XIHAN ZHANG
PHD STUDENT
Xihan is a Psychology PhD student at Yale in the Rutledge Lab. Xihan’s current interest focuses on the cellular bases of human brain dynamics, the neural mechanisms of naturalistic affective dynamics, and their relationship with depression symptoms. Xihan completed a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology at Ocean University of China and a thesis in system biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, received MS in Computational Biology at Harvard, then worked as a lab manager in Marc Berman’s lab. She is also supervised by Avram Holmes at Rutgers University.
Email: xihan.zhang
Kathy SHi
pHD STUDENT
Kathy is a Psychology PhD student at Yale in the Rutledge Lab. She is interested in how current and past decisions affect mood in people with and without mood disorders, and how this might appear in neural signals during neuroimaging. Kathy received her BS in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University. During her time there, she investigated the neural correlates of emotional memory.
Email: kathy.shi
GLORIA FENG
PhD student
Gloria is a Psychology PhD student at Yale in the Rutledge Lab. She is interested in computational modeling of smartphone-based data to examine mood disorders. Gloria received her AB in Behavioral Decision Science from Brown University. As an undergraduate, she did research on value-based decision making and information seeking, and also worked as a UI/UX Designer for technology startups.
hUW JARVIS
VISITING phd CANDIDATE
Huw is a Fulbright Future Scholar visiting the Rutledge Lab from the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University, Australia. His PhD research is supervised by Trevor Chong and utilises novel behavioural paradigms combined with computational modelling to understand interactions between motivation and reward-based learning. Prior to his PhD, he completed studies in medical science (University of Tasmania) and public health (University of Melbourne), and worked in research translation at the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia’s leading expert body in health and medical research. Huw is interested in bringing computational psychiatry out of the lab and into the clinic with the aim of improving outcomes for people with psychiatric and neurological disease.
jihyun hur
affiliate phd sTUDENT
Jihyun is a Clinical Psychology PhD student at Yale supervised by Jutta Joormann. She uses computational modeling and neuroimaging to reveal the latent decision-making processes in patients with mood disorders and to understand how momentary changes in individual mood states impact learning and decision making. After graduating with a BSBA in Accounting from Washington University in St. Louis with Honors in Management, she completed her MA in Clinical Psychology at Seoul National University supervised by Woo-Young Ahn. In her MA research, she investigated the association between worry and model-based reinforcement learning. She also served as a practice clinician at the university counseling center. Jihyun hopes to utilize computational models to help patients with major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders restore happiness in their lives.
millie Lawrence
Research Technician
Millie is a postgraduate research technician in the Rutledge Lab. She is interested in how mood disorders and neurodegenerative disease can affect decision making, and how longitudinal smartphone-based data can be used to measure this. She is currently studying how Parkinson's disease and aging can affect the relationship between mood and decision making. Millie is also mentored by Carolyn Fredericks at the Yale Clinical Neurosciences Imaging Center, where she is researching preclinical Alzheimer's disease. She received her BSc in Psychology from the University of Bath.
Email: millie.lawrence
katie Myerscough
Research Technician
Katie is a postgraduate research technician in the Rutledge Lab. She is interested in understanding how affective mechanisms such as emotion dysregulation can confer risk for mood disorders such as depression and how they can impact cognitive processes such as decision making. Previously, Katie studied how Parkinson’s disease can affect the relationship between mood and decision making and investigated the influence of psychosis on learning and memory. She received her BSc in Psychology from Cardiff University.
Email: katie.myerscough
ELLEN MARTIN
RESEARCH TECHNICIAN
Ellen is a postgraduate research technician in the Rutledge Lab. She is interested in using computational methods to understand the effect of anxiety on mood during risky decision-making tasks. She received her BSc in Psychology from UCL and her MRes in Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology from UCL.
Email: e.martin
Junxi Chen
Research technician
Junxi is a postgraduate research technician in the Rutledge Lab. He is interested in understanding the computational mechanisms of learning and decision-making and how they are impacted by psychiatric disorders. He received his B.S. in Computational Neuroscience and Mathematics from the University of Southern California. At USC, he investigated reinforcement learning and Bayesian models of learning under uncertainty.
Email: junxi.chen
Karen Chen
Masters Research Technician
Karen is a masters student in UCL’s MRes in Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology who is currently completing her research placement at the Rutledge Lab. She is interested in understanding the computational mechanisms underpinning mood dynamics, and how it differs between healthy individuals and individuals with mood disorders. She hopes to utilise computational methods to support the development of clinical tools to better predict changes in symptoms of mood disorders.
Email: karen.chen
Christina Adcock
Lab Manager and Research Technician
Christina is the lab manager and research technician for the Rutledge Lab. She was a BSc psychology undergraduate at Cardiff University. She coordinates smartphone platform development and runs day-to-day operations for the lab. Christina is interested in using such platforms to collection psychological data on decision making and mood disorders. She previously worked on research exploring how happiness is affected by the facial feedback hypothesis.
Email: christina.adcock
Alumni
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BASTIEN BLAIN was a postdoc working with Robb. Bastien is now an Assistant Professor at the Sorbonne Economics Centre at University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
LIAM MASON was a postdoc working with Robb and Ray Dolan. Liam is now an Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology at University College London.
RITWIK NIYOGI was a postdoc working with Robb. Ritwik is now a Senior Deep Learning Researcher with MediaTek Research.
PAUL SHARP was a postdoc working with Robb. Paul is now an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Bar-Ilan University.
MATILDE VAGHI was a postdoc working with Robb and Ray Dolan. Matilde is now an Assistant Professor in Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London.
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RACHEL BEDDER was a PhD student working with Robb. Rachel is now a postdoc with Yael Niv at Princeton.
ARCHY DE BERKER was a PhD student working with Robb, Ray Dolan, and Sven Bestmann. Archy is now Head of Data and Machine Learning at CarbonChain.
BENJAMIN CHEW was a PhD student working with Robb and Ray Dolan. Benjamin is now a co-founder of artificial intelligence startup Whimseo.
AKSHAY NAIR was a PhD student working with Robb, Geraint Rees, and Sarah Tabrizi. Akshay is now a consultant neuropsychiatrist at Atkinson Morley Regional Neurosciences Centre at St George’s Hospital.
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CHELSEA UDDENBERG was a research technician working with Robb. Chelsea is now a clinical research assistant at the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Centre in Hartford Hospital and a Clinical Psychology PhD Student at University of Washington starting in Fall 2025.
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SUZANNE BUSS was a BSc student studying Biochemistry at the University of Surrey who worked as the Rutledge lab manager and research assistant on her placement year. Suzanne is now a MSc student in Neuroscience at University of Southampton.
SANKALP GARUD was an MRes student in Cognitive Neuroscience working with Bastien Blain. Sankalp is now a PhD student in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford.
GIACOMO GLOTZER was a BSc student working with Robb. Giacomo is now a Neuroscience PhD student at Rockefeller University.
CALUM GUINEA was an MRes student in Cognitive Neuroscience working with Rachel Bedder. Calum is now a PhD student in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge working with Becky Lawson.
LOUISE HRYNKIEWICZ was a iBSc Medical student working with Robb. Louise is now an Assistant Psychologist at the NHS.
OLIVIA JORASCH was a BSc student working with Robb. Olivia is now a Quantitative Trader at Jane Street.
JORDAN LAM was a iBSc Medical student working with Robb. Jordan is now a Neurosurgery Resident at University of Michigan.
MILLIE LOWTHER was an MSc student in Natural Sciences working with Rachel Bedder. Millie is now a PhD student at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, working with Oliver Robinson.
ELLIE LUGT was an MSc student in Cognitive Neuroscience working with Bastien Blain. Ellie is now a Senior Advisor at The Behavioral Insights Team.
JAK MALORET was an MRes student in Cognitive Neuroscience working with Liam Mason.
AMIE OKUMA was a BSc student in Psychology at Cardiff University who worked as the Rutledge lab manager and research assistant on her placement year. Amie is now a MSc student in Marketing at Cardiff University.
LARA PUHLMANN was an MSc student in Cognitive Neuroscience working with Robb. Lara is now a PhD student at Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig with Pascal Vrticka.
IOANNIS SARIGIANNIDIS was an MSc student in Cognitive Neuroscience working with Robb. Ioannis is now a Wellcome Trust-NIH PhD student with Oli Robinson and Jon Roiser at UCL.
SOPHIE SHANG was an MSc student in Cognitive Neuroscience working with Akshay Nair. Sophie is now a PhD student in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford working with Mike Browning.
NIKOLINA SKANDALI was an MSc student in Clinical Neuroscience working with Robb. Nikolina was a PhD student with Barbara Sahakian and Trevor Robbins and is now a trainee psychiatrist and academic clinical fellow at University of Cambridge.
JULIANA SPORRER was an MSc student in Brain and Mind Sciences working with Matilde Vaghi, Marion Rouault, and Steve Fleming. Juliana is now a PhD student with Dominik Bach at UCL.
CASEY SWERNER was an MRes student in Cognitive Neuroscience working with Robb. Casey is now an Analyst at DN Capital.
RACHEL THOMAS was a BSc student in Psychology at Cardiff University who worked as the Rutledge lab manager and research assistant on her placement year.
MADELEINE WALLIS was a BSc student in Psychology at Cardiff University who worked as the Rutledge lab manager and research assistant during her placement year.