Alyssa (she/her/hers) is a senior Physiology & Neurobiology major and is minoring in Molecular & Cell Biology and in Psychology. Alyssa is currently part of UConn’s Pre-PA society (PAPCA) and an active member of Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society. Outside of school, Alyssa works as a licensed nursing assistant at a long term care facility specializing in end of life care. Alyssa also enjoys volunteering in the children’s section of her local library and teaching swim lessons, as she was a competitive swimmer for over 10 years!
Alyssa has also been participating in research at UConn. In her sophomore year, she started working in the Dr. Walikonis Lab within the PNB department where she is currently researching intellectual disabilities associated with mutations to IQSEC2 gene expression. Alyssa has always been interested in executive functioning in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. She is a part of the BOLD Women’s Leadership Network at UConn. She has had the opportunity to design and pursue her own research project during the summer of 2022 where she is studying the overlap between autism spectrum disorders, alexithymia, and eating disorders in hopes to better understand the implications these comorbidities can have on eating disorder recovery.
After graduating from UConn, Alyssa hopes to get her doctorate in clinical psychology so that she can both continue her research and treat individuals who have faced complications in eating disorder recovery.
Alyssa would be happy to talk with students about finding research opportunities, scholarship programs, career paths, and ways to get involved on campus! Feel free to reach out to her with any questions!
Student Research Blog Posts by Alyssa: