معرفی
Erika Vitale is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Smith Lab at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy, focusing on neural mechanisms underlying social behaviors and stress responses.
Educational background:
- Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience, Michigan State University (2020)
- M.S. in Psychology, Michigan State University (2016)
- B.S. in Psychology, Florida State University (2013)
Her research examines neurobiological foundations of social bonding, parental behavior, and partner loss, with emphasis on how early life adversity shapes adult social functioning. Key interests include neurotransmitter and neuropeptide regulation of social decision-making, utilizing behavioral neuroscience approaches to investigate neural circuits involved in social cognition.
As a core member of the Smith Lab, she contributes to studies exploring molecular and circuit-level mechanisms that mediate social behavior vulnerability to developmental stressors, with implications for understanding psychiatric disorders involving social dysfunction.
