Anosha Khawaja-Lopez (she/her/hers)

PhD Student

Anosha began her research career as an undergraduate investigating the effect of sleep deprivation on fear recall and generalization in human research participants. Since then, she has had a special interest in research that aims to develop novel treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During her Master's program, she shifted her area of research to investigating the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics in rodent models.

In the lab, Anosha investigates the behavioral effects of ketamine on cognition and perceptual decision-making, as well as the neural underpinnings responsible for ketamine's mechanism of action. She is interested in uncovering areas of the brain that may be necessary for ketamine's therapeutic actions. She would like her research to contribute to our understanding of how psychedelics can benefit those affected by treatment-resistant depression and PTSD.

Outside of the lab, Anosha is passionate about all things food, cooking, and interior design. There is no distance she wouldn't travel just to visit a bucket-list restaurant. She has two cats, Kiko and Papaya, and a bunny named Thumper.