Esra Sefik

Esra Sefik is an international PhD student in the Neuroscience Program at Emory University's Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. She is originally from Istanbul, Turkey and is a dual citizen of Bulgaria. In her thesis work, she studies the 3q29 deletion syndrome (3q29Del) by employing a multidisciplinary approach integrating neuroscience, genetics, psychology, and bioinformatics. 3q29Del is caused by a genomic copy number variant associated with an estimated 40-fold increased risk for schizophrenia. Sefik aims to help elucidate the neurobiological determinants of this link under the co-mentorship of Drs. Jennifer Mulle and Elaine Walker. She completed her undergraduate studies in clinical psychology at Tufts University and pursued postbaccalaureate research at the Schizophrenia Neuropharmacology Research Group at Yale University. She is preparing to start a postdoctoral research position in neuropsychiatric genetics next year.