Zsuzsanna Tucsek-Cardon, PhD Clinical Research Coordinator
Dr. Tucsek-Cardon oversees day-to-day laboratory operations, project timelines, and regulatory compliance. She plays a key role in participant recruitment, study monitoring, data management, and dissemination, supporting both mechanistic and clinical research activities.
Melba Zuniga Gutierrez, MD StrokeNet Fellow
Dr. Zuniga Gutiérrez is completing a StrokeNet fellowship with a focus on neurorehabilitation and clinical outcomes after cerebrovascular injury. Her work centers on the use of neuromodulation techniques to enhance post-stroke recovery, with special interest in clinical trial design and implementation. She also contributes to multi-site collaborative projects investigating neurovascular coupling and functional recovery.
Maria Fernanda Cedeño Bruzual, MD Visiting Scholar
Dr. Cedeño Bruzual is a visiting scholar contributing to mechanistic studies of neuromodulation. Her work emphasizes multimodal approaches combining EEG and fNIRS to examine neurovascular coupling and cortical dynamics. She is actively involved in projects assessing the physiological underpinnings of cognitive recovery and the optimization of stimulation paradigms.
Daniela Mercado Peña, MD Visiting Scholar
Dr. Mercado Peña is a visiting scholar whose work in the laboratory focuses on cognitive rehabilitation. She collaborates on projects integrating non-invasive brain stimulation with behavioral interventions to improve attention and memory performance. Her role includes supporting data acquisition, study protocol development, and translational applications of neuromodulation in cognitive disorders.
Cade Ballard, BS Graduate Student
Cade Ballard is a graduate student whose research focuses on the application of neuromodulation and quantitative assessment methods in neurorehabilitation. His work involves supporting experimental and clinical studies examining motor recovery and cognitive function following neurological injury. He contributes to data acquisition, analysis, and the implementation of research protocols integrating non-invasive brain stimulation with behavioral and physiological measures.