Principal Investigator

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Post-doctoral Fellow

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Dr Abdul Ibrahim received his PhD in Neuroscience from University of Cape Town, South Africa, where he used neuroimaging (MRI & DTI) and neuropsychological testing to investigate the impact of maternal HIV infection on the uninfected neonate brain. In the Appetite Lab, Abdul is interested in understanding the neurobiological basis of appetitive traits and behaviours in children, adolescent and adults using multimodal imaging techniques and psychometric measures.

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Data analyst

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Liuyi received her Master degree in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology. She joined the Appetite Lab in July 2017, where she focuses on analysis of fMRI data on obesity and appetite in children and adults.

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Research Program Coordinator

Shirley received her BS in Nutritional Sciences and Pharmacology from the University of Toronto and her MSPH in Human Nutrition from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She joined the Appetite Lab in Aug 2025 as a Research Program Coordinator. Her research interests focus on understanding eating behaviors in children with neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism and ADHD, and exploring how these behaviors relate to other aspects of child development such as emotional and behavioral functioning.

Undergraduate Intern

Trinity is a fourth-year undergraduate studying Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, with minors in Computer Science and Psychology. She joined the Appetite Lab in August 2024 and is interested in nutrition, eating behaviors, and the application of machine learning to advance these fields. After graduation, Trinity plans to attend medical school and pursue a career as a physician. 

Ph.D. Student 

Jose earned a BS in Neuroscience with a minor in biology and a BS in Psychology from Georgia State University. He is currently a first-year PhD student in the Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. His research interests include using neuroimaging techniques to study effort-based decision making and its relationship to food motivation, with implications for eating disorders and obesity. Outside the lab, Jose enjoys spending time outdoors, traveling, and cooking.

MHS Student

Esther is a Master of Health Science student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition Science and Preventive Medicine from Macau University of Science and Technology in 2024 and completed a clinical internship at the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in the same year. Her research explores how attention-related traits shape eating behavior, circadian patterns, and systemic inflammation using large-scale population datasets. She is particularly interested in identifying non-obvious pathways linking mental health and metabolic outcomes, especially where conventional behavioral explanations may be insufficient.