People

Dr. Williams Roberson is an Assistant Professor in the departments of Neurology and Biomedical Engineering. She currently serves as the medical director of ICU EEG services and an investigator in the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction and Survivorship (CIBS) Center. Her clinical interests include the evaluation and management of intractable epilepsy, critical illness encephalopathy (ICU delirium) and related neurological disorders, with an emphasis on their cognitive and neuropsychiatric comorbidities. Her research interests center on the use of neurophysiologic signal processing and neuromodulation to learn about disorders of consciousness and cognition among people with epilepsy, ICU delirium, and post-ICU cognitive impairment. She loves to dance, travel, serve, and make people smile! 

Anya Harden (she/her) graduated from Lipscomb University in August 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a minor in Spanish. She began working for the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction and Survivorship research group as a Clinical Translational Research Coordinator I in February 2023. In her work as a CTRC for the CIBS center, Anya conducts delirium assessments and other interventions in the ICUs in addition to screening and enrolling new participants for multiple studies. For the Cognition and Consciousness Lab, she collects data for studies on delirium using EEG measures. She loves rock climbing and taking pictures in her spare time. In the future, Anya hopes to earn a doctorate in neurology or neuroscience with the goal of studying consciousness and perception. 

Priya is a third-year medical student at Meharry Medical College School of Medicine with aspirations of becoming a neurologist dedicated to serving patients and their families. She is particularly interested in neuroplasticity and the neurocognitive aspects of the brain, including long-term memory retention and the formation of synaptic connections, and has worked with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in pediatric patients with epilepsy. She is excited to join the Cognition and Consciousness Lab and learn from Dr. Williams Roberson and contribute to projects involving EEG data analysis for ICU patients. In her free time, Priya enjoys singing Indian Carnatic music, hiking, and spending time with friends, her brother, and her dog, Coby.

Kiriti is a graduate student in computer science at Middle Tennessee State University and serves as a statistical analyst and programmer for the Cognition and Consciousness Lab. Apart from system design and building software tools for productivity, his own research is attempting to solve Smart Farming in Middle Tennessee, and recommendations in literature and movies, using machine learning. He is happy to apply his growing skillset to health and advancing medical knowledge at Vanderbilt, as opposed to predicting oil futures. The things Kiriti has made may include robots, music, websites, and films, but he hasn’t yet made friends with time.

Olivia is a senior at Vanderbilt majoring in Neuroscience on a pre-med track and minoring in Classics and Mediterranean Studies. Some of her research interests include neurodevelopment and language comprehension. Outside of academics, she enjoys rock climbing and baking.

Natasha Stepp is a senior at Vanderbilt University studying neuroscience and medicine, health, and society with a minor in biological sciences on the pre-medical track. Natasha is interested in research on the pediatric manifestations of neurological conditions, such as epilepsy. In her free time, she enjoys reading, crocheting, and watching films.