Evan Iliakis, PhD

I grew up in Düsseldorf, Germany and went to Pomona College near Los Angeles, graduating summa cum laude with a BA in Linguistics and Cognitive Science in 2018. From there, I went on to spend two years working with Lois Choi-Kain at the Gunderson Personality Disorders Institute at McLean Hospital near Boston, focusing on clinical research projects to improve understanding of personality disorders, especially borderline personality disorder, and increase access to affordable care for them. My experience working with individuals with personality disorders, coupled with the relative lack of clarity about the pathophysiology and mechanisms of treatment of these disorders, led me to become increasingly interested in neuroscience research on neuropsychiatric disorders during medical school. Through my MD-PhD, I hope to develop the neuroscience expertise essential for bridging this critical gap in our understanding of BPD. Currently, I am working in the Fuccillo Lab at UPenn as a F30 Predoctoral Fellow on a project that aims to elucidate the role of striatal interneurons in decision-making. In my free time, I enjoy playing the piano and learning languages.