About

Background

I studied psychology in Tijuana, focusing on neuropsychology and psychometrics. For my master's in neurobiology at UNAM, I studied changes in brain connectivity after transcranial magnetic stimulation in people with cocaine dependence.

Since 2020 I have been at the Montreal Neurological Institute, supervised by D. Louis Collins. The work is methodological: automated segmentation pipelines, normative models of brain structure, and quality-control tools for large multi-site MRI studies, most of it centred on the hippocampus and lateral ventricles as markers of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease.

Education

2026
PhD in Neurosciences Montreal Neurological Institute & McGill University · Montréal, QC, Canada
  • Project: MRI biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease.
  • Defended June 2026.
  • Supervisor: D. Louis Collins, PhD.
2020
Master of Science in Neurobiology — Graduated with Honors Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) & Instituto de Neurobiología (INB) · Ciudad de México, México
  • Thesis: Brain connectivity in cocaine-addicted patients after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment.
  • Supervisor: Eduardo Garza-Villarreal, PhD.
2016
Licenciatura (BSc) in Psychology — Highest Honors Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) · Tijuana, BC, México
  • Scholar Merit (first in class — equivalent to summa cum laude).
  • Focus: Neuropsychology · Psychometrics.
2014
Semester Abroad Universidad de Salamanca · Salamanca, Spain
  • Training in clinical and vocational evaluations.

Positions

Research

2020 – Present
Doctoral Researcher Neuroimaging & Surgical Technologies (NIST) Lab · Montréal, QC, Canada
2022 – 2024
Production Editor McGill Journal of Medicine · Montréal, QC, Canada
2019 – 2020
Master's Student Researcher Laboratorio Nacional de Imagen por Resonancia Magnética (LANIREM) · Querétaro, Qro, México
2019
Volunteer Research Visitor Laboratory of Neuroimaging, NIAAA, National Institutes of Health · Bethesda, MD, USA
2017 – 2019
Master's Student Researcher Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría "Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz" (INPRFM) · Ciudad de México, México
2017 – 2019
Research Coordinator Yaaj México, A.C. · Ciudad de México, México
2015
Research Intern Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF) · Tijuana, BC, México

Clinical

2016 – 2017
Psychometrist Interpsique · Tijuana, BC, México
2014 – 2015
Psychology Intern Hospital de Salud Mental de Tijuana (HSMT) · Tijuana, BC, México

Community

2017 – 2019
Consultant COPRED — Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination of Mexico City · Ciudad de México, México
2017
Volunteer CAIPT — Integral Attention Center for Transgender People · Tijuana, BC, México

Honours & awards

2023
Differential Fee Waiver, McGill IPN Montréal, QC, Canada
2020
IPN Entrance Award Montréal, QC, Canada
2020
"Alfonso Caso" Medal Querétaro, México
2019
CONACYT Graduate Fellowship Ciudad de México, México
2019
UNAM Support for Mobility Ciudad de México, México
2019
CONACYT Mobility Fellowship Ciudad de México, México
2016
EGEL-CENEVAL Excellence Award Guadalajara, Jal., México

Mentoring & service

2024
Methodological Supervision — PhD Students Neuroimaging & Surgical Technologies (NIST) Lab, McGill University
  • Mentoring PhD students Marc-Antoine Akzam-Ouellette and Alexandra Novozhilova in Structural Equation Modeling, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and neuroimaging analyses (model specification, technique development, interpretation).
  • Trained lab members and external collaborators (P. Rosa-Neto's team at McGill; A. Eshagi's Demistify project at UCL) in MRI quality-control procedures and Qrater workflows.
—
Invited Workshops & Lectures
  • SEM & mediation methodology workshops delivered for the Mahsa Dadar and Yashar Zeighami labs, McGill University (2024–2025).
  • R introductory session for graduate students in the PSYT630 statistics course taught by Yashar Zeighami, McGill University (2024).
  • Graph Theory Analyses with R and BrainGraph — invited graduate lecturer in Eduardo Garza-Villarreal's "Redes y Conectividad Cerebral y Neuroimagen" course, UNAM (Nov 2021).