People

Marcus Paoletti

Marcus is a 3rd year medical student at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He is interested in psychiatry and harnessing technology to generate clinical tools and insights. Marcus is also an avid reader, long distance runner, and mindfulness meditation guide.

Lucas Occhino

Lucas is an MD/MPH student at Keck School of Medicine pursuing a career in psychiatry. He enjoys learning about the neural circuits of behavior as well as the socio-political structures that shape psychiatric care delivery. His guilty pleasure is competition reality television, and he can often be found exploring new cafes and eateries.

Tamerlane Visher

Tam studied math and physics at UC Berkeley before developing a passion for helping those struggling with mental illnesses. He is currently an M1 at Drexel College of Medicine. In his spare time, he enjoys writing music, attending dance classes, surfing, and spending time with his wife and newborn.

Kendall Phelan

Kendall is an MD/MPH student at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She is interested in acute psychiatric care, neuromodulation therapies, and addiction psychiatry. Outside of medicine, Kendall is an amateur potter, musical theater aficionado, and board game enthusiast.

Kenon Sakurai

Kenton Sakurai is a 4th year medical student at the Keck School of Medicine applying into psychiatry. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in human biology and society at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Master of Public Health at the Keck School of Medicine. His current career interests include child psychiatry and interventional psychiatry. Outside of medical school, Kenton enjoys spending his time playing golf, bowling with his family, and running a dungeons and dragons campaign with his fellow medical students.

Ujjwal Pasupulety

Ujjwal is a master’s student at the Viterbi School of Engineering, studying computer science. He grew up in Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India, and is interested in utilizing AI to solve problems in mental healthcare. In his free time, he enjoys reading Wikipedia articles, writing poetry, and listening to punk/alternative rock music! He also actively posts research paper summaries on LinkedIn.

Kaeo Wongbusarakum

Mansi Garg

Mansi is a master’s student at the Viterbi School of Engineering, majoring in Computer Science. She is interested in generating an impact in mental healthcare using evolving technology. She believes that if leveraged in the right manner, technology can help solve intricate issues in society. She loves baking, going for walks, and visiting dog parks in her spare time. She loves meeting new people and learning about their experiences in life.

Sam Devavaram Jebaraj

Sam Devavaram Jebaraj is a master’s student at the University of Southern California, pursuing a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a specialization in Machine Learning and Data Science. Sam has honed his skills through various projects and loves to merge his knowledge in machine learning with the medical field, particularly in medical image analysis. His recent endeavors include leading a team to develop models for thoracic abnormality detection and grading Gleason scores of prostate cancer. Additionally, he has published work on improving DICOM compression. In his free time, Sam loves to hike and is a huge fan of California sunsets. He is an active member of hiking groups and enjoys exploring new foods and cultures.

Xiao “Elisa” Liu

Elisa Liu is an undergraduate studying neuroscience and psychology at University of Southern California. She has a strong passion for psychiatry and pediatrics. Supported by Dr. Frank and other amazing colleagues, she is able to gain versatile skills and experience in clinical research, such as effective recruitment techniques, workspace communication, scientific analysis for both qualitative and quantitative data, and a mindset for independent critical thinking. For the coming year of 2024-2025, she looks forward to facilitating lab work at Dr. Frank’s OCD lab, which allows her to establish a stronger understanding of psychiatry for OCD and plan her next steps for the future path.

Jiaqi “Derek” Fan

Derek is a Junior at USC majoring in Psychology and Computational Neuroscience. He joined Frank OCD Lab in August 2023. He mainly helps with recruitment and data processing in the lab. This experience strengthened his goal to pursue a career in clinical psychology. In his spare time, he loves to play board games, listen to various music, and hang out with friends.

Erica Schug

Erica is a current undergraduate student studying neuroscience at USC. She is passionate about exploring science and neurotechnology to help those with mental illness. In her free time she enjoys running, writing, and reading.

Thomas Baek

Thomas is a sophomore at USC studying psychology with minors in business and natural science. He hopes to pursue medical school with a passion for psychiatry. In his free time, he enjoys playing the guitar and reading, and is currently training for a half marathon.

Megan Mirkis

Megan is a junior at USC majoring in psychology and minoring in Forensics and Criminality. She is passionate about research that can improve people’s lives and is ecstatic to be apart of this Lab which does just that. In her free time, she enjoys reading and anything excuse to be outside such as hiking or climbing.

Mingju “Richard” Zhang

Richard is a junior student studying Applied and Computational Mathematics and Cognitive Science with a minor in Applied Analytics and Business Finance at USC. His core competencies include Mathematical Statistical Modeling, Machine Learning Applications, and Quantitative Analytical techniques. In his spare time, he enjoys watching sports games such as NBA, soccer, and sometimes even F1 races.

Precia Rhee

Precia is a senior studying Cognitive Science with a minor in Gerontology: Science, Health, and Aging. She is on the pre-physician assistant and nursing track. She is interested in researching how technology can be applied to bridge treatment gaps in widespread mental health conditions. In her free time, she enjoys figure skating, painting, and spending time with her friends and family.

Kaitlyn Sullivan-Pascual

Kaitlyn Sulivan-Pascual is a freshman at USC majoring in psychology. She is interested in qualitative research in mental health, specifically on how family accommodation, culture, and environment affect people with OCD. Kaitlyn spends her free time dancing and reading books.

Natalie Bakken

Natalie is a junior at USC majoring in Cognitive Science and minoring in Applied Analytics. She’s interested in the intersection of technology and neuroscience, and is excited to help expand the knowledge of OCD. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, and playing guitar!

Mythili Iyer

Yvonne Shen

Wellington Chang

Psychiatry Resident at Mount Sinai Beth Israel

Jerry Zhao

Psychiatry Resident at Riverside University Health System