Amanda Merner, PhD

Amanda Merner, PhD, is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Brain Bioethics Lab at Harvard Medical School's Center for Bioethics. She received her doctorate in experimental psychology, with a specialization in affective neuroscience from Case Western Reserve University. During her graduate training, she conducted research in the Center for Neurological Restoration at Cleveland Clinic, where she examined cognitive and affective changes in patients who underwent deep brain stimulation surgery for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The second line of her work examined the neuroethical challenges surrounding emerging neurotechnologies and the development of patient-centered outcome measures of personality change in patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Merner is broadly interested in predictive psychiatry and neuroethics, and ultimately, she aims to integrate her training experiences in affective neuroscience, neuromodulation, and neuroethics to inform socially responsible, patient-centered prevention efforts and interventions for psychiatric conditions.