The team at Sleep and Circadian Analysis Group (SCAN) is comprised of both core members and collaborators. Together, we are able to mine the data gained during sleep studies to further our understanding of the role sleep plays across a broad range of physiological research topics, including neuroscience, cardiology, metabolism, and many others.
Director
Ankit Parekh, PhD
Assistant Professor; Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Dr. Parekh is an Assistant Professor with the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He received his BS in Computer Engineering, MS and PhD degrees in Mathematics with a minor in Signal Processing from New York University in 2011, 2012 and 2016 respectively. During his PhD, he worked on the advancement of a theoretical framework termed convex non-convex optimization and its use in understanding sleep neurobiology. After completing a year of postdoctoral training in cardiac and brain imaging at the University of Iowa’s Institute of Biomedical Imaging, he joined the sleep research team at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Parekh’s current work is geared towards developing predictive models for daytime sleepiness in sleep apnea using clinical trials across multiple modalities (e.g., EEG, structural and functional MRI). Dr. Parekh is also affiliated with the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences under the multidiscplinary training areas of Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies in Medicine [AIET] and Neuroscience [NEU].
Faculty and Collaborators
Korey Kam, PhD
Assistant Professor; Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
My interest is to combine advanced neuroimaging with sleep testing in order to identify what consequence biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease have on elderly individuals who are otherwise cognitively normal. I am fortunate to have great mentorship from Drs. Varga, Ayappa, Rapoport, Osorio, Balchandani and Morris. We have developed a mentored career development plan that will build on my past skills in sleep medicine and engineering and add new skills in neuroimaging in order to reveal underlying dysfunction of subcortical brain regions susceptible to the earliest pathology of Alzheimer’s disease. As a member of SCAN, I also aim to contribute to Dr. Parekh’s goal of developing and validating tools for the analysis of sleep physiology in the hope of understanding mechanisms by which poor sleep affects cognition and vigilance.
David M. Rapoport, MD
Professor; Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Indu A. Ayappa, PhD
Professor; Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Andrew W. Varga, MD, PhD
Associate Professor; Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Thomas M. Tolbert, MD
Assisstant Professor; Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Ivan Selesnick, PhD
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Ricardo M. Osorio Suarez, MD
Associate Professor; Psychiatry
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Esther Blessing, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor; Psychiatry
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Omonigho M. Bubu, MD, MPH, PhD
Assistant Professor; Psychiatry
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Fellow
Anna Mullins, RPGST, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
I completed my PhD in 2018 at The University of Sydney and the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, and earned my Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Psychology from The University of Western Australia and a Diploma in Health Administration from Curtin University. I am a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist (RPSGT) and have worked in sleep, neurology, and cardiology since 2003. My current research activities include investigating the relationship between sleep disruption, sleep apnea, memory and risk of Alzheimer’s disease via brain and biological based biomarkers. General research interests include using complex analysis of sleep/wake physiology to facilitate a deeper understanding of circadian biology and behavior in sleep disordered populations and neurodegeneration.
Research Staff
Ahmad Fakhoury, MS
Sleep Research Operations Manager
Reagan Schoenholz, BASc
Clinical Research Coordinator
I received my BASc in Cognitive Science from McGill University in 2019. My overarching research interests are in memory and trauma. Before starting as a research coordinator at the Mount Sinai Integrative Sleep Center, I worked as a research assistant in Dr. Alain Brunet’s lab at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. There I assisted in investigating the use of propranolol during memory reconsolidation therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. I also took part in an internship in Global Public Health at the Empower Lab under the direction of Dr. Veronica Ades. At the Empower Lab, I worked on scoping reviews covering topics such as female genital cutting and sex trafficking. After gaining more experience working in a research setting, it is my eventual goal to pursue an MD-PhD.
Daphne Valencia, MS
Clinical Research Coordinator
I graduated with my MA at New York University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and received my BA in Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology at Rutgers University. The human brain drives both my curiosity and passion for the overlapping fields of cognition, neuroscience, and psychology. My primary areas of interest and experience include understanding how sleep impacts brain architecture and memory. I have experience conducting research in various age groups and settings. I have additional experience with participant recruitment, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and sleep research methods.
Do Hyung (David) Kim, BA
Clinical Research Coordinator
Bresne Castillo, BS, RPGST
Sleep Technician
Mayrelis Balbuena, RPGST
Sleep Technician
Lab Alumni
Reagan Schoenholz, BASc
Do Hyung (David) Kim, BA