Woynaroski Lab: Biobehavioral Approaches in Neurodevelopmental Disorders (BAND)
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
woynaroskilab@gmail.com (615) 936-5470
Serious Science.
Seriously Fun People.
Lab Director
Tiffany Woynaroski, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Assistant Professor in Hearing and Speech Sciences
BS, Psychology, Valparaiso University (2002)
MS, Speech-Language Pathology, Vanderbilt University (2009)
PhD, Hearing and Speech Science, Vanderbilt University (2014)
Tiffany received her PhD from Vanderbilt University’s Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences in December 2014 after an extensive clinical career working with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) as an early interventionist/parent educator, speech language pathologist, and autism consultant. She has authored 22 published or in-press peer-reviewed articles (with another 7 under review or in preparation), 2 book chapters, and over 70 presentations at academic conferences.
Research Staff
Elizabeth Gardner, MS, CCC-SLP
Clinical/Translational Research Coordinator
Elizabeth is a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist and has worked extensively in research labs for over 20 years. Her current research specializes in early diagnosis of autism, treatment efficacy, sensory function, and autism symptomatology.
Elizabeth Gardner, MS, CCC-SLP
Clinical/Translational Research Coordinator
Elizabeth is a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist and has worked extensively in research labs for over 20 years. Her current research specializes in early diagnosis of autism, treatment efficacy, sensory function, and autism symptomatology.
Bahar Keçeli-Kaysili, PhD
Clinical/Translational Research Coordinator
Bahar completed her PhD in Special Education at Ankara University. Her research specializes in communication, language development and social interaction dynamics. She also studies educational interventions to promote communication and language, as well as developmental relationships between language and theory of mind in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Bahar Keçeli-Kaysili, PhD
Clinical/Translational Research Coordinator
Bahar completed her PhD in Special Education at Ankara University. Her research specializes in communication, language development and social interaction dynamics. She also studies educational interventions to promote communication and language, as well as developmental relationships between language and theory of mind in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Graduate Students
Jacob I. Feldman, MS, CCC-SLP
Kacie is a PhD student, having recently graduated with a Neuroscience major and a Music minor. Through her research, Kacie has demonstrated interest in differences in cognitive processes in developmental disorders, particularly differences in communication and memory, as well as the role that music plays on cognition.
Bahar Keçeli-Kaysili, PhD
Clinical/Translational Research Coordinator
Bahar completed her PhD in Special Education at Ankara University. Her research specializes in communication, language development and social interaction dynamics. She also studies educational interventions to promote communication and language, as well as developmental relationships between language and theory of mind in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Jacob is a PhD student at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences. He completed his bachelors in Communication Sciences and Disorders and Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University and his masters in Speech-Language Pathology at Vanderbilt University.
He is interested in early identification of autism spectrum disorder and how audiovisual multisensory integration may explain variance in core autism symptoms and higher level factors, such as language and literacy. He has been an author on 1 peer-reviewed publication (4 under review or in preparation), 1 clinical tool, and 26 conference presentations.
Kacie Dunham, BS
Allie Golden
Senior Research Assistant
Allie is a senior double majoring in Child Studies and Medicine, Health, and Society. Her research interests focus on early intervention aimed at mitigating the developmental sequelae of early sensory differences in high-risk infants.
Elizabeth Gardner, MS, CCC-SLP
Clinical/Translational Research Coordinator
Elizabeth is a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist and has worked extensively in research labs for over 20 years. Her current research specializes in early diagnosis of autism, treatment efficacy, sensory function, and autism symptomatology.
Research Staff
Undergraduate Students
Margaret Cassidy
Junior Undergraduate Research Assistant
Maggie is a junior pursuing a major in Neuroscience with a Math minor. Her research interests include genetic and neural correlates of sensory function in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Yupeng Liu
Junior Undergraduate Research Assistant
Yupeng is a junior pursuing a major in Neuroscience. His research interests include the malleability of audiovisual multisensory integration in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Aster Samuel
Junior Undergraduate Research Assistant
Aster is a senior pursuing a double major in Neuroscience and Medicine, Health, and Society. Her research involves studying audiovisual perception for adults and children on the autism spectrum.
Prachy Mahbub
Junior Undergraduate Research Assistant
Prachy is a junior double majoring in Neuroscience and Religion at Mount Holyoke College. Her interests lie in researching the genetic basis of multi-sensory differences in children with autism spectrum disorder and novel interventions that can alleviate them.
Claire Daly
Junior Undergraduate Research Assistant
Claire Daly is a junior double majoring in Psychology and Spanish. Her research interests include learning about human communication and its underlying cognitive mechanisms.
Evan Suzman
Junior Undergraduate Research Assistant
Evan is a senior pursuing a double major in Child Development and History. Evan is intrigued by autism, plasticity, multisensory processing, and neurodegenerative disease.
Sweeya Raj
Junior Undergraduate Research Assistant
Sweeya is a junior majoring in neuroscience. Her research interests include sensory development of children with autism spectrum disorder and early intervention strategies for children with ASD.
Aine
Junior Undergraduate Research Assistant
Aine is a junior majoring in neuroscience. Her research interests involve strategies for studying neurodevelopmental behavior to examine heterogeneity.