Hiba Sheheitli is a Research Assistant Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Neurology - Neuromodulation Research Center and the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences - Interventional Psychiatry (Nahas) Lab. She holds a PhD in Theoretical & Applied Mechanics (emphasis on Applied Mathematics & Nonlinear Dynamics) from Cornell University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering (with a Minor in Biology) from the American University of Beirut.
She was previously a Theoretical Neuroscience Researcher at INS (Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes) - Aix-Marseille University (France), where she led efforts on incorporating dopamine neuromodulation action in whole brain network models of Parkinson’s disease, and contributed to several projects spanning topics such as the mechanistic brain modeling for epilepsy, the study of brain structure-function coupling in healthy aging, and the emergence of low-dimensional manifolds in high-dimensional network models of the brain.
Her current research aims to interrogate nonlinear neural dynamics in the context of brain disorders, specifically in Parkinson’s Disease and Treatment-Resistant Depression. Her objective here is twofold: 1) devising dynamics-based biomarkers of brain health & disease and 2) the development of mechanistic models for testing causal hypotheses that demystify the emergence of biomarkers in relation to underlying biophysical processes. The ultimate goal of her work is the use of dynamical models, informed by patient-specific anatomical and functional data, for the personalization of brain stimulation therapies.
