Brielle Ferguson
Brielle Ferguson, PhD, is a neuroscientist and assistant professor of Genetics and Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. Her lab explores how we make decisions around focusing our attention. Through combining cell-type specific neuronal monitoring and functional manipulations, physiology, and modeling, she hopes to provide insights into how we connect with the world around us. Dr. Ferguson received her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia, where she majored in Cognitive Science, with a concentration in neuroscience, and a minor in bioethics.
During her graduate work, she became fascinated with the thalamus for its importance in supporting many fundamental cognitive processes. In her PhD research with Wen-Jun Gao, she studied the role of the mediodorsal thalamus in goal-directed behaviors, and became curious how activity in thalamocortical circuits could go awry to contribute to brain disorders. This led her to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of John Huguenard, an expert in epilepsy research and physiology of thalamocortical circuits. There, her work examined mechanisms of attention disruption in epilepsy, revealing that activity in specific interneurons can predict attention performance, a finding that likely has implications beyond epilepsy. Dr. Ferguson has been recognized with numerous national awards and honors, including pre- and postdoctoral NIH National Research Service Awards, a Brain Initiative Pathway to Independence Award (K99-R00), and the Intersections Science Fellowship. She has also been selected for Forbes Under 30, Drexel 40 Under 40, and the Root 100 most influential Black Americans.
Outside the lab, Brielle is passionate about improving access for underrepresented folks in neuroscience and other STEM-related fields. She co-founded and serves as Program Director for the non-profit Black In Neuro, an organization dedicated to building community, increasing visibility, and providing resources for Black scholars in neuro-related fields.
