Dr. Opendak is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health and the Emotional Brain Institute at Nathan Kline Institute. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Columbia University where she worked with Dr. Peter Balsam. Dr. Opendak later earned her PhD in Neuroscience at Princeton University, working in the lab of Dr. Elizabeth Gould, where she studied the role of structural plasticity in the hippocampus in rodent social behavior. Using the infant rodent pup, Dr. Opendak’s postdoctoral work with Dr. Regina Sullivan at NYU has begun to identify specific infant neuroanatomical circuits that generate developmentally-appropriate social behavior and how these systems go awry following adversity. Her current research aims to address this question by applying cutting-edge neuroscience techniques she has adapted for infant rats, including optogenetics and electrophysiology in behaving animals. In support of her work, Dr. Opendak has been previously awarded a NRSA F32 and she is currently also the recipient of a NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.