Student / Postdoc Committee

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Neuroethics Experts

The Student/Postdoc Committee represents early career members of the INS, their interests, and makes recommendations to the Board regarding initiatives affecting students and postdoc members. The committee currently manages the Neuroethics Essay Contest and contributes to the development of mentoring activities for Society members.

The committee accepts a select number of new members each year and is always in need of fresh ideas and perspectives. If you are interested in nominating yourself or a fellow student or trainee INS member, see the committee appointment process. We especially welcome nominees from historically underrepresented or marginalized communities — women, people of color, LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities — as well as from our colleagues in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

Responsibilities of the committee are to:

Represent the interests of trainee members of the Society.
Oversee and adjudicate the Neuroethics Essay Contest.
Make recommendations to the Board regarding initiatives for student and post-doc members.
Coordinate communication and outreach efforts through the website, newsletter, and other media.
Cultivate membership through strategic communication.

Appointments

Learn more about committee appointments if you are interested in volunteering to serve on this committee or others.

Committee Appointments

Profiles

Co-Chairs

Nathan Higgins

Monash University

Nathan Higgins is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Monash Bioethics Centre. Nathan’s work explores the responsible research and innovation of neurotechnologies, primarily neurosurgical systems such as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and deep brain stimulation (DBS). His doctoral work examined the problem of post-trial responsibility in clinical trials of implantable brain-based devices. At Macquarie University, Nathan is working on a project investigating public attitudes towards voluntary-assisted dying legislation in Australia. He has served as the Chair of the International Neuroethics Society’s Student & Postdoc Committee since 2023, and is currently the Managing Editor of the journal Neuroethics.

Diego Borbón

Universidad Externado de Colombia
Red Iberoamericana de Neuroderecho y Neuroética

Diego Borbón was appointed as one of the youngest Professors at the Faculty of Law of the Universidad Externado de Colombia, where he teaches Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence and Law at the Center for Studies on Genetics and Law, where he is also the PI and Director of the Research Group in Biological Sciences and Law. Affiliate and former Fellow at the University of Zurich’s Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, as winner of the Stehr-Boldt Award in Biomedical Ethics. He is a lawyer, criminal defense attorney, and consultant in public law. Holds a JD, MSc in Legal Psychology, MPhil in Philosophy and is a PhD candidate in Philosophy. Master’s student in Applied Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London. Founder of the Red Iberoamericana de Neuroderecho y Neuroética, a comprehensive network of Ibero-American scholars in neurolaw and neuroethics. Has served since 2022 in different roles and appointments for the International Neuroethics Society.

Members

Camilla Connor

Spelman College

Sara Fernandes

Universidade Católica Portuguesa

Leonie Ghermay

University of North Florida

Leonie Ghermay is an undergraduate student at the University of North Florida studying neuroscience with an emphasis on engineering applications and plans to pursue MD/PhD training. Her research focuses on brain cancer protein engineering and modeling how mechanical stress affects neural and physiological systems, with applications in aerospace. She is the founder and lead of Brain Without Borders, a nonprofit expanding access to neuroscience and health education for children in underserved communities, and holds leadership roles in several student organizations focused on neuroscience and engineering.

Brielle Hershberger

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Brielle Hershberger is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying neuroscience and biology, with aspirations toward a career in medicine. Her research examines the inadequacies of mild traumatic brain injury diagnosis, focusing on epistemic injustice and its ethical implications for patient recognition and recovery. Her work also explores how emerging diagnostic tools can better serve these patients. As a Parr Center for Ethics Scholar and member of the Neuroethics Team, she brings an ethical lens to her future in healthcare.

Andrew Lee

University of Toronto

Andrew Lee, MD is an incoming geriatric psychiatry subspecialty resident at the University of Toronto. He earned his BSc in Kinesiology at McMaster University and his MD at Queen’s University. His current research interests include the use of artificial intelligence in violence risk prediction and the impact of technological advancements on older adults.

Anders Orr

Harvard Medical School

Anders Orr is a Master of Science in Bioethics (MBE) student at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics. His current research is working to develop a pre-screening ethics consult framework to help ICU teams identify ethically complex cases earlier and strengthen communication, support, and equitable decision-making. He aspires to pursue a career in healthcare and to continue contributing to the future of neuroethics through his work.

Rand Mudafr

USF / UCSF

Rand Mudafr is a biotechnology master’s student at the University of San Francisco (USF), where she earned a B.S. in Molecular Biology with minors in Health Studies and Philosophy. At the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) she supports physician education through surgical simulation and cadaver-based training. Her interests include healthcare equity, patient trust, and the ethical challenges surrounding emerging medical technologies. She hopes to bridge medicine, policy, and ethics throughout her career.

Mohhadiah Rafique

Stellenbosch University

Mohhadiah Rafique is a PhD Candidate in Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University (SU) and a Research Assistant in the team. Her research interests lie in exploring the lived experiences of mental health conditions amongst marginalized communities, examining neuroethics and mental health policymaking in Africa, reflecting on social justice in mental health care, incorporating critical consciousness and decolonial practices as well as using arts-based methods in mental health research. She is part of the Africa Neuroethics Research Group and a Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for the Afterlife of Violence and Reparative Quest, and she holds a Master’s degree in Research Psychology, Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Psychology (Cum Laude) and Bachelor of Science degree in Human Life Sciences with Psychology, from SU.

ORCID

Maeve Shannahan

Emory University

Maeve Shannahan is an undergraduate student at Emory University majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology with a minor in Neuroethics. Her work has explored the use of machine learning to support triage decisions, capacity assessment, and resource allocation in prehospital care. She has also investigated the ethical implications of off-label neurotherapeutic prescribing for hypersomnia.

Talha Soluoku

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Talha Soluoku is a doctoral researcher in the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His research examines how hippocampal–prefrontal circuits support memory, cognitive flexibility, and decision-making, and how these processes shape temporal memory processing and how they are altered by pathologies like neuroinflammation. He uses in-vivo electrophysiology and computational neural signal analysis to study how disruptions in circuit communication shape behavior. His neuroethics interests include the responsible use of invasive neural recording technologies, equity in global neuroscience research, and ethical standards for neural data governance.

Caitlyn A. Tabor

Stony Brook University

Caitlyn A. Tabor, JD, MBE (she/her/hers) is an adjunct professor of bioethics at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University and a graduate and affiliate of the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics. Her work integrates the neuroscience of trauma and ethics to inform immigration and criminal law reform, emphasizing collaboration among ethical, legal, medical, and other experts. She has presented at the U.S. Department of Justice and published in JAMA on sleep deprivation as torture.

Diana Urian

University of Ottawa

Diana M. Urian is an MSc student at the University of Ottawa. She is affiliated with both the Faculty of Medicine and the Centre for Law, Technology and Society. Her current research explores the legal implications of neurotechnology-related privacy harms. She aspires to pursue a career in healthcare law, contributing to policy development and legal education.

Faculty Mentor

Adrian Carter

Monash University

Adrian Carter is an associate professor at Monash University, a research fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council, and director of community engagement and neuroethics at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia. His research examines the impact of neuroscience on our understanding and treatment of addiction, mental illness, and neurological disorders.