Garcia Lab

Tuan Cassim received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from City College of the City University of New York in 2017. He pursued his graduate education at the Vrije University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in cognitive neuropsychology. Tuan’s research and clinical interests lie in neuropsychology, neurodegenerative diseases, and cognitive testing using methods such as EEG, tDCS, and neuropsychological evaluations. During his graduate studies, he was trained in neuropsychology research and studied the effects of physical activity and cognitive phenotype in APOE-4 allele carriers. Tuan also has experience working in a lab focused on the psychophysiology of autism and the broader autism phenotype at the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York. Tuan studied autistic traits as they relate to cardiac autonomic activity, interoceptive accuracy, and emotion processing. In his current role as a clinical research coordinator for the Neuroanesthesia Division at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Tuan participates in Dr. Paul Garcia’s clinical research studies focusing on the neurophysiology of the sedated brain investigating intraoperative EEG signatures, and their association with adverse postoperative outcomes such as delirium. Tuan is on his way to pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology at the University of Utah and will remain an active collaborator with the Garcia lab.

Meah Ahmed received his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Rochester in 2022, where he also studied computer science. His expertise lies in the general neuroscience of clinical and animal models, biomedical signals, biomedical systems, and circuits. He also is adept at software engineering and programming, specifically in working with big data, database systems, data mining, and machine learning models associated with precision-medicine-driven computational algorithms. Meah’s future research interests lie in the discovery and use of engineering or clinical interventions to improve the treatment of neurological/neurodegenerative disorders, and deeper academic understanding of clinical outcomes or precursors related to disturbances of human consciousness. In his current role as a clinical research coordinator for the Neuroanesthesia Division at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Meah participates in Dr. Paul Garcia’s clinical research studies focusing on the neurophysiology of the sedated brain investigating intraoperative EEG signatures, and their association with adverse postoperative outcomes such as delirium. Many of these studies also involve assessing neuropsychological outcomes for patients who are at risk for delirium following surgery at the PACU. He is also involved in animal studies, in collaboration with Dr. Mansouri, which involves rat models that are pharmacologically manipulated to better understand EEG signatures of anesthesia for different groups (i.e., various neurosynaptic receptor knockouts, Alzheimer’s, wild types, etc.) After his time at Columbia, Meah hopes to pursue his MD/Ph.D. or MD-MS.eng at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University.

Alice Daramola is a fourth-year medical student at the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and is originally from Tallahassee, FL. She received her BS in Neuroscience from the University of Miami, where she was involved in both basic science and translational research on traumatic brain injuries. Following her undergraduate studies, she pursued her MPH with a concentration in behavioral sciences and health education at the Emory Rollins School of Public Health. Her graduate thesis explored the experiences of youth football coaches with an intervention aimed at reducing head injuries in the sport. Her current research interests include postoperative delirium, and during her time in Dr. Garcia’s lab, she has been studying incidence and risk factors for post-anesthesia care unit delirium at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Alice will be applying to anesthesiology residency programs this upcoming residency cycle.