Current Rappaport Fellows at McLean

Alison Foilb, PhD,  is a research fellow in the Behavioral Genetics Lab at McLean Hospital where she studies the intersection of stress and learning. As a Rappaport Mental Health Research Scholar, Dr. Foilb will examine the relationship between fear-related experiences and sleep using mice as a preclinical model. Her research, which will focus on how sleep deprivation affects the impact of stress, promises to inform clinical approaches to mitigate the effects of stress, increase resilience, and develop new methods of relieving traumatic memories in people in people with debilitating psychiatric illnesses.

Matthew Sacchet PhD received his PhD From Stanford University. His research is focused on the psychological and biological basis of mood and anxiety disorders, with a focus on major depressive disorder and mindfulness meditation-based interventions (MMBIs). Dr. Sacchet is an assistant neuroscientist in the Laboratory for Affective Translational Neuroscience at the McLean Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research.Dr. Sacchet’s research has been presented over 100 times at international, regional, and university conferences. He has received media coverage by such outlets as CBS, NBC, NPR, Time and The Wall Street Journal. Dr. Sacchet was named to the 2017 Forbes “30 Under 30” list.

As a Rappaport Mental Health Research Scholar, Dr. Sacchet will conduct the study, “Depression, Mindfulness and Individualized Brain Systems: Toward Brain-based Precision Psychiatry,” aimed at improving the personalized brain-based treatment of major depressive disorder through mindfulness meditation-based interventions.