Anna Verghese: Undergraduate Researcher

Anna is a 3rd year honors student working towards her B.A. in Economics with a minor in Neuroscience. She is set to graduate in 2023.

During her sophomore year, Anna taught a class through the USIE program titled Mindhunter: Profiling and Serial Killers which explored how criminal profiling and forensic psychology aided investigations in serial killer cases. Through this project, she became fascinated by research analyzing brain mechanisms involved in decision making, and observing the effects of drugs on the brain.

During summer of 2021, Anna was accepted into the Sustainability Grand Challenge as a SLAGC Scholar, a year-long program in which students develop a research project with a faculty mentor. Through this program, Anna joined the Sharpe Lab in the fall of 2021. She is interested in investigating LH-VTA dopamine learning circuitry and the effect of drugs like methamphetamine on these circuits. She hopes to use this knowledge and experience to pursue further education in behavioral economics.

In addition to her studies, Anna is the co-publicity director for 1GIRL, a peer mentor for the honors program, and a researcher for the first UCLA Fed Challenge team. In her free time, Anna enjoys traveling around the world, painting, reading, and playing with her cat Marmalade.

Contact: annaverezzy@gmail.com