Alisha Epps

Alisha Epps is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Whitworth University, where she has been a faculty member since 2015. She holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Emory University and a B.S. in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina. Her research focuses on behavioral neuroscience, particularly the comorbidities between depression and epilepsy, with an emphasis on rodent models and neuropharmacological interventions. Epps has published extensively on topics including the endocannabinoid system, caloric restriction effects, and the impact of early life stress on neurological disorders.

Her work has been supported by grants such as the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Grant (2020-2023) and the SCIO/CCCU Year 1 Research Fellowship (2021-2022). She has also been recognized with Whitworth University’s Innovative Teaching Award in 2018. Epps teaches courses like Biological Psychology, Research in Psychology, and Central Nervous System Disorders, while mentoring numerous undergraduate researchers in her lab. Her presentations at conferences like the Society for Neuroscience and Western Psychological Association highlight her contributions to understanding comorbid neurological conditions.

Awards include grants focusing on endocannabinoid system mechanisms and the dorsal hippocampus’s role in depression and epilepsy. Her research portfolio spans neuropharmacology, electrophysiology, and behavioral analysis, with a consistent focus on translational models of mental health and neurological disorders.