This section is for all the past members of our laboratory. We appreciate the work they did while they were here with us, and we still like to keep in touch to learn about what they are doing now.
Bella Liano B.S Bella graduated with his Bachelors in Biological Sciences here at UTEP in Spring of 2022. She joined the lab as a research assistant as a MERITUS Scholar reipient. She is currently is in the Pharmacy Graduate program at UTEP.
Alec Rodela, B.S Alec graduated with his Bachelors in Biological Sciences here at UTEP in. He joined the O'Dell laboratory in spring 2020 as a undergrad research assistant.
Kevin Uribe, Ph.D. Kevin graduated with both a Bachelors and Masters in Biology at the City College of New York (CCNY) in 2015. He received his MA degree under the supervision of Dr. Kilaris Salas-Ramirez. His research interests include sex differences in nicotine dependence and neuro-circuitry. He currently teaches Introduction to Psychology at UTEP. Kevion graduated with his Ph.D at UTEP in fall 2020.
Bryan Cruz Ph.D. Bryan graduated with a B.A. in Biological Psychology from California State University of San Bernardino (CSUSB). At CSUSB, Bryan conducted research in the developmental neurobiology laboratory of Dr. Sergio Iñiguez. In August of 2015, he joined the O’Dell Laboratory. His research interests include the neurobiological mechanisms of that modulate nicotine and alcohol dependence. Bryan graduated with his Ph.D. at UTEP in Spring 2020.
Paola Correa B.S. Paola was a research assistant and laboratory manager for O’Dell’s laboratory from 2018-2020. She obtained a BS in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Texas at El Paso. She is currently pursuing a MD degree from the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine.
Montserrat Garcia B.S. Montserrat was a BUILD-Scholar student that work in O'Dell's laboratory as an undergraduate research assistant. She graduated with a bachelors degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from UTEP. She is currently applying for Ph.D. programs around the country. Wishing Montserrat all the best.
Rodolfo Flores Ph.D. Rodolfo graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a B.S. in Psychology. He worked in the laboratory of Dr. Arturo Zavala. He was part of the Social, Cognition, and Neuroscience Ph.D. program at UTEP, He began working in the lab in August 2014. His project examined sex differences in nicotine reward and withdrawal. Rodolfo graduated with his Ph.D. at UTEP in the Summer of 2019.
Tania Miramontes B.S. Tania was part of the BUILD-Scholars program and Dr. O'Dell's laboratory. She graduated from UTEP with a bachelors degree in Cellular and Molecular.
Evangelina Espinoza B.S. Evangelina is pursuing a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry at The University of Texas at El Paso and is expected to graduate in December of 2018. Evangelina joined the O'Dell lab in the summer of 2016. She intends on becoming a graduate student of neuroscience or clinical psychology and eventually a pediatric neurologist. She is passionate about raising awareness for Hispanic health disparities and studying issues relevant to the United States-Mexico border region.
Melissa Ibarra B.S. Melissa graduated with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Biology from UTEP in December of 2016. She began volunteering in the O’Dell laboratory in the summer of 2015 and became part of the SMART MIND training program summer of 2016. She hopes to attend medical school in the upcoming year to focus on neuroscience research and advocate to improve access to care for medically underserved communities.
Victor Correa Ph.D. Dr. Victor L. Correa is a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Laura O‘Dell in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at El Paso. He holds a B.S. degree in Cell & Molecular Biology from the Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a M.S. degree in Metallurgical & Materials Science Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science Engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso. His current research interests integrate his background in engineering and biology to develop novel models of tissue regeneration and cellular adaptation, with a current focus on the effects of drugs of abuse on the clinical efficacy of these models.
Alex Lopez Ph.D. Alex graduated with a B.A in Neuroscience from Boston University in 2016. She was the Lab Manager in the O'Dell laboratory for a year after graduation. She is currently participating in a post-baccalaureate training fellowship at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under the mentorship of Dr. Antonello Bonci. At the completion of her training, she hopes to pursue a dual M.D/Ph.D degree in the fields of psychiatry and neuroscience.
Joe Pipkin Ph.D. Joe graduated with his B.A. in Psychology from San Diego State University. From there he continued his education at California State University, San Bernardino and obtained a Master's in Behavioral Neuroscience. He is part of the Social, Cognition and Neuroscience Ph.D. program, which he started in August 2012. Joe is interested in studying the neurobiological and neurochemical mechanisms of drug-seeking behavior and relapse. In addition, he is interested in the neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms of diabetes. Joe graduated with his Ph.D. at UTEP in the Fall of 2016.
Cecilia Hinojosa Ceci began as an undergraduate student as a NIDA summer fellow. In Fall 2013, she was awarded an Undergraduate Fellowship through the UTEP College of Undergraduate Research Initiatives (COURI). She won two best poster awards at the UTEP COURI symposium and the VIDA conference. She started this fall at Tuffts University working on her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.
Adriana Perez Adriana worked as a an undergraduate student volunteer and research technician. She completed her undergraduate Honor’s Thesis in the O'Dell laboratory. She is now a graduate student at University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience.
Tiahna Ontiveros Tiahna was an undergraduate volunteer in the O'Dell laboratory. She was awarded a NIDA summer training fellowship in 2015 at CUNY in their Department of Neuroscience. She is a post-baccalaureate fellow at The University of New Mexico.
Robert Martinez Robert was an undergraduate who completed a B.S. in Biology with a Biomedical Science concentration. He has interests in clinical neuroscience and biochemical changes produced by drug abuse. He plans to pursue an M.D. degree.
Christian Tejeda Ph.D. Chris is a Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry major at UTEP. He came to the O'Dell laboratory through the SMART-MIND program in the summer of 2013. He studies corticotrophin-releasing factors (CRF) and its relation to nicotine addiction.
Patrick L. Ferree Ph.D. Patrick graduated from the University of California at San Diego in 2012 with a B.S. in chemistry and a B.A. in philosophy. He originally joined the O'Dell laboratory as a volunteer interested in learning more about neuroscience. Drug addiction seemed to him a natural inlet to the discipline as a whole. He quickly gravitated to the work of Dr. Oscar Torres who was using qRT-PCR to investigate the relationship between the stress system and nicotine addiction, and how this relationship differs between sexes. Patrick is now a graduate student at Duke University! Good luck to you Patrick!
Oscar Torres, Ph.D. Oscar graduated from UTEP and joined the laboratory as an undergraduate in 2005. He was part of the Social, Cognition and Neuroscience Ph.D. program and his major project focused on anxiety produced by nicotine withdrawal in adolescent and adult male and female rats. Dr. Torres was a post-doctoral researcher at the National Institute of Health & National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore. He is now a faculty member at Mesa Community College in San Diego, CA. Many students are indebted to Oscar for his helpful guidance and support. Good luck to you Oscar!
Luis Natividad Ph.D Luis leaves our lab as the first Ph.D. student for Dr. O'Dell. Luis had many successes during his time at UTEP, including an American Psychological Association Fellowship and an independent Pre-Doctoral Fellowship from the National Institute of Health. He leaves the lab with 7 publications, 4 of which are first author. Luis left to pursue post-doctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute, where he will continue to conduct studies examining the neural mechanisms of drug addiction. Best of luck to Luis!
Vanessa Valenzuela Vanessa came to the laboratory in the summer of 2010 as part of the BRIDGES program.
Julio and Nicole Julio and Nicole were the first students to participate in research in the laboratory as part of the SMART Minds Program in Neuroscience. This program is part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates that was funded through the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Nicole is an undergraduate at California State Fresno and Julio is at St. Mary’s University. We wish them the best in graduate school!
Ivan Torres RN. Ivan worked in the laboratory as a student volunteer and then undergraduate. He was instrumental in initiating our work into diabetes and tobacco addiction. Ivan is has graduated from the UTEP Nursing program in 2015. Best of luck Ivan!
James Orfila Ph.D. Dr. Orfila worked in the O'Dell laboratory as a post-doctoral trainee from 6-08 to 1-12. His research projects examined the neurochemical effects of nicotine withdrawal on changes in acetylcholine levels in the nucleus accumbens. His projects were funded through the Minority Supplement in Diversity program at NIDA. James is now a post-doctoral trainee at the Medical School at the University of Colorado in Denver. Best of luck to James and his family
Hugo Tejeda Ph.D. Hugo came to our lab as part of the Career Opportunities in Research Program. Hugo was also awarded a Pre-doctoral Ford Foundation Fellow to conduct graduate studies at UTEP. He was also awarded a Faculty Undergraduate Neuroscience Travel Award to attend the Society for Neuroscience Meeting in 2007. Hugo completed his honors thesis in our laboratory and was currently a graduate student at The University of Maryland in their NIDA partners program. Best of luck to Hugo and his family
Francisco Roman Ph.D. Paco worked in our lab as an undergraduate Research Technician. He was awarded a NIDA summer training fellowship. Paco completed his Pharmacy degree at UT Austin. Paco helped us launch our research program in diabetes and tobacco abuse and we wish him all the best in the future! Best of luck to you Paco!
Sofia Blanca Beas Ph.D. Sofia joined our lab as part of the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program. She was also awarded a NIDA summer training fellowship in 2009. Sofia completed her honors thesis in our laboratory and was a graduate student at University of Florida. Congratulations on completing your Ph.D. Sofia, and best of luck to you at the National Institute of Aging! Keep up the great work Sofia!