Susana Gabriela Torres-Platas, Ph.D.                            

 • Email:  susana.torresplatas@northwestern.edu

Education & Research experience                                      

• Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois, U.S.A.

  Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023-present; Mentor: Ken Paller

  Research topic: Investigating the Practices, Benefits and Neural & Physiological Correlates of Contemplative Sleep Practices.

• Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada

  Co-Director, Geriatric Psychiatry lab: 2017 – 2018; Director: Soham Rej

  • Clinical Research Associate, 2016-2017

Clinical Research Assistant, 2016

Research topic: Biological mechanisms & effectiveness of Mind-Body Interventions such as Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Tai-Chi, and other types of meditation to treat psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.

McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Ph.D. in Neuroscience (GPA 3.9), 2015; Mentor: Naguib Mechawar

Masters in Neuroscience, fast track to Ph.D. after 11 months (GPA 4.0), 2009 – 2010

Thesis title: Evidence of astrocyte and macrophage activation in the anterior cingulate white matter of depressed suicides.

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

B. Sc. in Biology, 2008; Mentor: Francisco Fernandez de Miguel

Thesis title: Morphologic characterization of proteins involved in the somatic secretion of serotonin.