Meet Our Team!

Members of the CBrA Lab together outside the Hill Student Center. Jan 2024.

Lab Director

Dr. Rajesh Kana is the associate dean for graduate and continuing studies at the UAB College of Arts & Sciences and professor in the Department of Psychology. He received his Ph.D. in psycholinguistics from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India. As a William Fulbright Fellow, Dr. Kana was trained in neuroimaging from UCLA, followed by a postdoctoral training in using neuroimaging technique to study autism at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. Dr. Kana’s interests focus on basic and translational research on the neurobiology of autism. He uses a variety of brain imaging techniques, such as functional MRI, structural MRI, diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and MR Spectroscopy to understand the functional and anatomical organization of the brain in autism. Dr. Kana studies social cognition, language comprehension, executive functions, and the impact of behavioral interventions on the brain in autistic children and adults.


Lab Staff

Paula Argueta, B.S.

Lucas Martin, B.A.

Elizabeth Valles-Capetillo, Ph.D.


Graduate Researchers

McKayla Kurtz, B.S.

Meagan Beckerson, M.A.

Jeremy Cottle, M.A.


Undergraduate Researchers

Daphne Rivera

Caroline Vanderburgh

Julia Dominguez

Josie Zachman

Grace McClain

Lily Hicks


Collaborators

Sarah O’Kelley, Ph.D.

Smitha Karavallil Achuthan, Ph.D.