People

Catherine J. Chu, MD, MMSc, MA

Dr. Chu is a board-certified child neurologist and neurophysiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chu is the director of neonatal and pediatric EEG monitoring at MGH. Clinically, she specializes in EEG analysis, seizure localization, surgical planning, and neuromodulation for patients with difficult to control epilepsy. Dr Chu’s research focuses on identifying and understanding how brain rhythms contribute to seizures and cognitive symptoms in epilepsy using invasive and noninvasive multimodal imaging. Active federally funded projects in the Chu Lab include studies on thalamocortical circuit dysfunction in epileptic encephalopathies, neuromodulation in cortical epilepsy, and hippocampal rhythms and sleep-dependent memory function. She is also active in several multicenter collaborative networks to improve our understanding of neonatal seizures and early life epilepsies. Outside of work, Dr. Chu is the proud mom to 3 awesome kids and enjoys tackling endless home improvement projects with her husband. [Link to CV]

Wen received her PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2015 and Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Science from Jinan University, P. R. China in 2011. Wen has worked on various types of analysis of biomedical signals including ECG, EEG, PSG, MRI, and acoustic signals. She is interested in building automated analytic models by developing predictive, actionable algorithms for better performance and efficiency. In the Chu Lab, Wen will work on evaluating childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (CECTS) with a focus on automated sleep staging and spindle detection.

Elizabeth Spencer, PhD
Graduate Student Research Assistant

Lauren Ostrowski, BS
Medical School Student Research Assistant

Grace Xiao, BS
Medical School Student Research Assistant

Grace Xiao is a medical school student at Johns Hopkins. Previously, she did her undergraduate work at Harvard studying neurobiology and economics. She is interested in creating impact through research, policy and entrepreneurship. In the Chu lab, Grace assisted with collecting and analyzing neuroimaging data for the BECTS project and works on a project looking at spikes in children with BECTS.

Anvitha Sathya
Medical School Student Research Assistant

Anvitha is currently a third year student in Boston University’s Seven Year BA/MD program with a minor in English and an interest in neurological patient care. She has previously worked in labs studying neuromuscular diseases and neurological injuries and is excited to work at the Chu lab to study neurological communication and localization through clinical studies.

John McLaren, MD
Pediatric Neurology Fellow

John is currently a Pediatric Neurology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. He completed his undergraduate degree at Boston College, majoring in Music and Neuroscience, and his Medical Doctorate at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. After completing his Neurology training, he will be staying on at MGH as an Epilepsy fellow. His research interest is in diagnostics and therapeutics for children with epileptic encephalopathies.

Yancheng Luo, MD
Pediatric Neurology Fellow

YC (Yancheng) Luo is a graduating Child Neurology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. After graduation, he will start as a junior faculty at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska.  During his residency, he started working with Dr. Chu on electrophysiology data analysis and he hopes to continue this research interest in his career. 

Jennifer Leahy, BS
Psychology PhD student                         UMass

Stefania Sokolowski, MA
Strategic Analyst                                      Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Rayna Trietsch, MD
Medical Student                                                       Tufts University

Juan Diaz, BS
MBA student                                              Dartmouth University

Katica Boric, PhD, MSc
Decision Lab Manager                               ESADE

Kyla Cordrey, BS
Medical student                                                   Johns Hopkins University

Rebecca Weiss, BS
Clinical Research Data Analyst                      MGH Neonatology 

Wenting Xie, MEng
Graduate Student                                              Cornell University

Erin Ross, BS
Medical student                                      University of Southern California

Dan Song, BS
Bioengineering PhD student         Northwestern University

Mckenna Parnes, MSEd
Clinical Psychology PhD student              Suffolk University

Katrina Daigle, MA
Clinical Psychology PhD student             Suffolk University

Lila Worden, MD
Assistant Professor                                 University of Connecticut School of Medicine

Sally Stoyell, BS
Child Cognitive Development PhD student    University of Minnesota

Anehita Oribabor, MEng