Staff

Over the past 17 years as a Speech Language Pathologist, Catherine has primarily worked with young children in early intervention and in clinical research settings. Originally from Cookeville, TN, her Bachelor’s degree is in Music Therapy, and she earned her Master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Catherine’s most recent research endeavors were dedicated to coaching parents of baby siblings with Autism Spectrum Disorder to support their engagement and communication. She is excited to return to her musical roots and to more formally study the connections between the brain, music, and language. Outside the lab, Catherine enjoys hiking, planting flowers, and spending time with her awesome nephews! 

Julie Mazzone grew up in NY and earned her Master’s Degree in Speech Language Pathology from Hunter College in 2017. Upon graduating, she worked as a Speech Language Pathologist with young children with hearing loss. Outside of her 9-5 job, Julie pursued her love of music by performing, as well as teaching children’s music classes. She is excited to work in the lab as it combines her passions. In her free time, Julie enjoys writing music and playing with her dog.

Talia Liu is originally from Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia. In 2018, she graduated from Rice University in Houston, Texas where she majored in both Cognitive Sciences and Psychology. Her research has focused on language development in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder, infant language development, and speech perception. She enjoys working with infants and children, as well as with individuals with autism. She is currently finishing up her MS in Speech-Language Pathology at Vanderbilt while continuing to work part-time in the lab. In her free time, Talia likes to play her instruments (mainly piano and oboe), and eat pizza, soup noodles, and dumplings.

 

Rachana grew up in Mumbai, India, and went to St. Xavier’s College for undergrad where she studied Zoology and Biochemistry. After graduating, she spent a year in Ontario working with Dr. Stephen Lougheed in the Molecular Ecology Lab at Queen’s University. She completed her Master’s in Zoology at Pune University in India and immediately after began work with Dr. Himanshu Sinha in the Complex Trait Lab at TIFR, Mumbai. She then returned to the US in 2015 for her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Vanderbilt. Rachana’s specific areas of interest in research are the genetics of disease, public health, and botany. In her free time, you’ll find Rachana spending time in the kitchen, listening to crime podcasts, painting, or in a dance class hosted at Vanderbilt! She has played the piano for 15 years and enjoys classical, electronica, and classic rock music.

Publication:

Nitin, RA, Bowman, AA. (2018). Chapter Three - Connections Between Manganese Neurotoxicity and Neurological Disease. Advances in Neurotoxicity, 87-113(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.ant.2018.03.001

Meiotic Interactors of a Mitotic Gene TAO3 Revealed by Functional Analysis of its Rare Variance. Gupta et al. G3: GENES, GENOMES, GENETICS August 1, 2016 vol. 6 no. 8 2255-2263;https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.116.029900

Kelly Corcoran joins the Music Cognition Lab as a Social Scientist bringing a range of experiences in performance, community partnership and public health to the team.  In this position, Kelly works on epidemiological studies as well as community initiatives.  Named “Best Classical Conductor” by the Nashville Scene, Kelly is Artistic Director & Conductor of Intersection, a contemporary music ensemble in Nashville. Corcoran founded the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted the Nashville Symphony in hundreds of performances for nine seasons as Associate Conductor and Director of the Symphony Chorus. She has guest conducted many major orchestras including The Cleveland Orchestra, the Atlanta, Detroit, Houston and National Symphonies and orchestras in Argentina, England, Germany, Czech Republic, Spain, Mexico and Chile. Corcoran has worked with a range of artists and conducted National Geographic's Symphony for our World international tour. A graduate of Boston Conservatory (BM - Vocal performance) and Indiana University (MM - Instrumental Conducting), a proud alum of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship, the New World Symphony and the Lucerne Festival with Pierre Boulez, her primary conducting mentors are Leonard Slatkin and Marin Alsop. Additionally, Corcoran is on the music faculty at Middle Tennessee State University and Lipscomb University and is proud to serve on the Advisory Council for Music Makes Us (supporting music education) and Nashville’s Health Equity Workgroup. Kelly recently completed her Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Behavior from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is deeply interested in the role of music in building health in our communities.