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Ana Pocivavsek, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Ana received her B.S. in Psychology from Duke University. She then went on to earn her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Georgetown University, and completed her post-doctoral training at Maryland Psychiatric Research Center at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Ana joined the faculty at University of South Carolina in 2018.
Twitter/X: @Dr_Ana_P
Snezana Milosavljevic, Ph.D.
Assistant Scientist
Snezana received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Physiology from the University of Belgrade. She went on to complete her Ph.D. in Neuroendocrinology from the University of Bristol and completed post-doctoral training at University of South Carolina School of Medicine. She hails expertise in physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and an array of in vivo techniques critical to the laboratory.
Twitter/X: @Dr_SnezanaM
Courtney Wright
Graduate Student
Courtney received her B.S. in Biological Science at the University of South Carolina Honors College (Honors Senior Thesis 2020; recipient of Magellan Award and SURF awards from USC). Courtney is a Ph.D. candidate in the Integrated Biomedical Sciences program at USC Columbia School of Medicine. In 2024, She has received a SPARC graduate student fellowship and is currently at scholar supported by the Maternal & Child Health Catalyst at USC.
Twitter/X: @courtneyjonesw
Maria Piroli
Graduate Student
Maria received her B.S. in Animal and Veterinary Sciences from Clemson University, Honors College. She was the recipient of several prestigious scholarships while at Clemson and joined our lab to further her neuroscience research experience. Maria joined the Integrated Biomedical Sciences program to earn her Ph.D. at University of South Carolina in 2023.
Twitter/X: @PiroliMaria
Corbin Witt
Graduate Student
Corbin received his B.S. in Chemistry from Francis Marion University with University Honors. His undergraduate thesis centered on differentiating blood stains and ink stains using Inferred Spectroscopy. He has years of experience working in the pharmaceutical/chemical industry. Corbin joined the Integrated Biomedical Sciences program to earn his Ph.D. in 2024. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his friends and family, making altogether too much tea, and FaceTiming his niece (a cat in Ohio).
Twitter/X: @corbinw96
Sam Walther
Graduate Student
Sam received his B.S. in Neuroscience from University of South Carolina. He completed a senior thesis research project and received the Magellan Scholar Award from USC and a Small Research Grant from the Sleep Research Society Foundation in 2024. Sam matriculated into the Integrated Biomedical Sciences program to earn his PhD in Neuroscience from USC in 2025. In his free time, he loves to play guitar.
LinkedIn: Sam Walther
(dates specify tenure in the lab for that position)
Staff - Research specialists
Mindal Reese - Research specialist (2024-2025)
Jacob Katz - Research specialist (2023-2024)
Maria Piroli - Research specialist (2021-2023)
Courtney Wright - Research specialist (2020-2021)
Nathan Wagner - Research specialist (2018-2022)
Ashley Lewis - Research specialist (2018-2020)
Silas Buck - Research specialist (2018)
Annalisa Baratta - Research specialist (2015-2018)
Postdoctoral fellows
Snezana Milosavljevic - Postdoctoral fellow (2019-2024)
Graduate students
Mindal Reese - PREP scholar (2023-2024)
Nic Rasool - PREP scholar (2024-2025)
Katherine Rentschler - PhD student, Integrated Biomedical Sciences (2019-2023)
Undergraduate students
Sam Walther - Undergraduate student, Senior thesis (2024-2025)
Charlie Grant - Undergraduate student, Senior thesis (2023-2025)
Katrina Zabransky - Undergraduate (summer) student (2024)
Morgan Creighton - Undergraduate (summer) student (2023)
Spandana Anchoori - Undergraduate student (2022-2023)
Morgan Lambert - Undergraduate student (2022)
Kesha Patel - Undergraduate student (2021-2022)
Zachary Tentor - Undergraduate (summer) student (2021)
Emma Sandago - Undergraduate student, Senior thesis (2019-2022)
Sarisha Menon - Undergraduate student, Senior thesis (2019-2022)
Hayley Nicholson - Undergraduate student, Senior thesis (2020-2022)
Olivia Moran - Undergraduate student (2020-2022)
Audrey Ditty - Undergraduate student, Senior thesis (2018-2020)
Courtney Wright - Undergraduate student, Senior thesis (2019-2020)
Carly Fabian - Undergraduate student (2016-2018)
Silas Buck - Undergraduate student (2016-2017)
Austin Buchla - Undergraduate (summer) student (2015)