CURRICULUM VITAE
Suzanne M. Houston
EDUCATION:
University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA
Doctoral Candidate, Developmental Psychology 2011-present
Advisors: Dr. Elizabeth Sowell, Dr. Frank Manis
New York University New York, NY
Master of Arts in Psychology, Neuropsychology Track; Cumulative GPA: 3.9, MA Scholar 2002-2005
Coursework: Neuropsychological Assessment, Psychopathalogy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Physiological Basis of Normal and Abnormal Behavior, Statistics, Research Methods and Experience, Forensic Psychology
Thesis: Pre-operative Cognitive Impairment and its Relationship to Post-operative Cognitive Decline in Cardiac Surgery Patients.
Advisor: Dr. Suzan Uysal
DePaul University Chicago, IL
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology; Major GPA: 3.9, Magna Cum Laude 1997-2001
Coursework: Psychology, Biopsychology, Developmental Psychology, Statistics, and Research Methods
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:
UCLA, Laboratory of Neuro Imaging: Dr. Elizabeth Sowell Los Angeles, CA Staff Research Associate/Project Coordinator/Manager 2005-2011
Primary responsibilities entailed managing research projects and deadlines to investigate maturational changes in the human cerebral cortex during childhood and adolescence to improving cognitive abilities. Actively supervised human subject research, including collaboration with Principal Investigators to design research protocols and prepare consent forms, maintenance of Institutional Review Board documentation, training of co-workers on appropriate ethical principles involved in human subject research, and assistance with data collection and analysis. Serve as the liaison between our lab, the IRB, and NIH regarding protocols, literature reviews, and progress reports for grants and sub-contractors, including the Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD), and Pediatric Imaging Neurobehavior and Genetics (PING). Independently conducted MRI scans, collected patient history, and assessed behavioral and neurocognitive function.
The Mt. Sinai Hospital: Dr. Suzan Uysal New York, NY
Neuropsychological Research Coordinator 2003-2005
Conducted research on the neuropsychological sequelea of elective cardiac surgery. Responsibilities
included participant recruitment and follow-up, assessment of neurocognitive function, collection of patient history, data management and analysis.
New York University Child Study Center: Dr. Tracy Fehrenbach New York, NY
Research Assistant
Assisted with the data collection and analysis on a project investigating the impact of trauma on vulnerable and underserved populations. Primary duties included at-home and on-site visits and assessments of children at risk for mal-treatment and abuse.
Pediatric Neurology, S.C. Highland Park, IL
Research Assistant/Coordinator 2001-2002
Conducted clinical trials studying the efficacy of medications for the developmentally delayed populations.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Suzanne M. Houston
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Applied Behavioral Analysis, Inc. – Certified ABA Therapist for Children with Autism 1997-2001
PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS:
1. Wei, M., Joshi, A.A., Zhang, M., Mei, L., Manis. F.R., He, Q., Beattie, R.L., Xue, G. Shattuck, D.W., Leahy, R.M., Xue,
F., Houston, S.M., Chen, Chuansheng, C., Dong, Q., Lu, Z. (2015). How age of acquisition influences brain architecture in bilinguals. (2015). Journal of Neurolinguistics. 36. 35-55.
2 Noble, K.G.*, Houston, S.M.*, Kan. E., Bartsch, H., Sowell, ER. et al. (2015). Family Income, Parental
and Brain Structure in Children and Adolescents. Nature Neuroscience. 18(5): 773-80.
3 Houston, SM, Lebel, C., Katzir, T., Manis, F.R., Rodriguez, G.R., Kan, E., Sowell, E.R. (2014). Reading Skill and Structural Brain Development. (2014). Neuroreport. 25(2): 347-52.
4 Noble, K.G., Houston, SM., Kan, E., Sowell, E.R. (2012). Neural correlates of socioeconomic status in the developing human brain. Developmental Science 15(4): 516-527.
5 Sowell ER, Leow AD, Bookheimer, SY, Smith LM, O’Connor MJ, Kan E, Rosso C, Houston S, Dinov ID, Thompson PM. Differentiating prenatal exposure to methamphetamine and alcohol versus alcohol and not methamphetamine using tensor-based brain morphometry and discriminant analysis. Journal of Neuroscience 30 (11): 3876-85. Mar 2010.
6 O’Hare, ED, Lu, LH, Houston, SM, Bookheimer SY, Mattson SN, O’Connor MJ, Sowell ER. (2009). Altered frontal-parietal functioning during verbal working memory in children and adolescents with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure. Human Brain Mapping 30 (10): 3200-8. Oct. 2009.
7 O’Hare ED, Lu LH, Houston SM, Bookheimer SY, Sowell ER. (2008). Neurodevelopmental changes in verbal working memory load-dependency: an fMRI investigation. Neuroimage 42 (4): 1678-85. Jun 2010.
ABSTRACTS/POSTERS:
1. Houston SM, Kan E., Sowell ER, Noble NG. Neural correlates of socioeconomic status in the developing human brain. 2012 Society for Neuroscience conference, New Orleans, LA, October 2012.
2. Lu, L.H., Houston, S., Haugen, I.M., Bookheimer, S., & Sowell, E.R. (2012, October). Functional activation supporting rapid naming and phonological processing as separate processes with distinct neuroanatomical substrates. 42nd Annual Meeting of the Society in Neuroscience in New Orleans, Louisiana.
3. Houston, SM., Katzir, T., Manis, F.R., Kan, E., Rodriguez, G.G., Sowell, ER. (2011).Brain Plasticity and Reading Ability: A Longitudinal Structural MRI Study of Typical Children. 18th Annual Organization for Human Brain Mapping conference, Beijing, China, June 2012
4. Noble KG, Houston SM, Kan E, Bookheimer SY, Sowell ER. Neural correlates of socioeconomic status in the developing human brain. National Academy Sciences Sackler Colloquium-Biological Embedding of Early Social Adversity: From Fruit Flies to Kindergartners. Irvine, CA, Dec 8-10, 2011.
5. Colby JB, Bookheimer SY, Smith LM, O’Connor MJ, Kan E, Rosso C, Houston S, Thompson PM, Sowell ER. Classifying prenatal methamphetamine and alcohol exposure using multi-modal anatomical and diffusion data with support vector machines. Annual Meeting, Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA. Nov. 2010.
6. Lu, LH, O'Hare, ED, Houston, SM, Smith, LM, O'Connor, MJ, Bookheimer, SY, Dapretto, M, & Sowell, ER. Children with prenatal methamphetamine exposure show decreased activation during orthographic processing. Poster presented at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA, 2007.
7. Lu LH, Smith LM, O’Connor MJ, Johnson A, O’Hare ED, Houston S., Bookheimer SY, Sowell ER. The effects of prenatal methamphetamine exposure on brain activiation during verbal learning. 14th Annual Meeting for Organization for Human Brain Mapping. NeuroImage Abstracts, June 2008.
8. O’Hare ED, Lu LH, Houston SM, Bookhiemer SY, Sowell ER. Evidence for Developmental Changes in Verbal-Working Memory Load-Dependency. 14th Annual Meeting for the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, NeuroImage Abstracts, June 2008.
9. Nunez, C., Lu, LH, Bookheimer, SY, Houston, S, Mattson, S, O’Connor, M, O’Hare, E, Smith, L, Sowell ER. Attention Performance in Children Prenatally Exposed to Methamphetamine. Poster session presented at the 36th Annual Convention of the International Neuropsychological Society, Waikoloa, HI, 2008.
10. Lu LH, O’Hare ED, Houston SM, Smith LM, O’Connor MJ, Bookheimer SY, Dapretto M, Sowell ER. Children with prenatal methamphetamine exposure show less brain activation during orthographic processing. Annual Meeting, Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA Nov. 2007.
11. O’Hare ED, Lu LH, Bookheimer SY, McCourt ST, Houston SM, Mattson SN, O’Connor MJ, Sowell ER. Increased dorsal frontal and inferior parietal activation during verbal working memory among children and adolescents with prenatal alcohol exposure. Program No. 610.15. 2007 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2007. Online.
PRESENTATIONS:
1. Houston SM, Kan E., Sowell ER, Noble NG. Neural correlates of socioeconomic status in the developing human brain. 2012 Press Conference for the Society for Neuroscience conference, New Orleans, LA, October 2012.
2. Lu, L.H., Houston, S., Haugen, I.M., Bookheimer, S., & Sowell, E.R. (2012, October). Functional activation supporting rapid naming and phonological processing as separate processes with distinct neuroanatomical substrates. Nanosymposium presentation at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Society in Neuroscience in New Orleans, Louisiana.
BOOK CHAPTERS:
1. Houston, S., Herting, M.M., Sowell, E.R. (2013). The Neurobiology of Childhood Structural Brain
Development: Conception Through Adulthood. In Andersen, S.L., Pine, D.S. (eds). The Neurobiology of Childhood. Dusseldorf, Germany: Springer-Verlag.
INVITED LECTURES:
1. An Introduction to R. For: Developmental Cognitive Neuro Imaging Laboratory. Fall, 2013.
2. Socieoeconomic Status & Brain Development, on Emotions, Stress & Health. For: Psychological Science and
and Society, July 2014.
3. The Science of Communicating Science. For: Psychological Science and Society, July 2015.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
PSYCH 100: Introduction to Psychology, Fall, 2014. Professor: Ann Renken, Ph.D
PSYCH 164: Drugs, Behavior and Society, Spring, 2015. Professor: John Monterosso, Ph.D.
PSYCH 201: The Science of Happiness, Fall, 2015. Professor: Jesse Graham, Ph.D.
PSYCH 201: The Science of Happiness, Spring 2015, Professor: Jesse Graham, Ph.D.
MEDIA:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/oct/16/childhood-adversity-adult-brain-functions
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121016132113.htm
http://magazine.good.is/articles/socioeconomic-status-and-literacy
http://hscnews.usc.edu/family-income-parental-education-related-to-brain-structure-in-youths/
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND AWARDS:
2015 Gold Family Fellowship, Summer 2015.
2010 Efforts in data collection: Roussotte FF, Sulik KK, Mattson SN, Riley EP, Jones KL, Adnams CM, May
PA, O’Connor, MJ, Narr, KL, Sowell ER. Brain Volume Reductions, Facial Dysmorphology, and Cognition in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. Submitted to Brain. Sept 2010.
2004 MA Scholar, New York University
2000-2001 Who’s Who Among American College Students
1997-2001 Dean’s List, DePaul University
2001 Departmental Award, Psychology, DePaul University
2001 Sister Anne Madden Service Award, DePaul University
VOLUNTEER/OUTREACH:
2002-2005 The Ronald McDonald House, New York, CA
2005-present Reading to Kids, Los Angeles, CA