Meet Hae Young Yi: Exploring the Intersection of Memory, Vision, and Neuroscience
Hae Young presenting her research findings at the 2024 Alzheimer’s Association National Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Meet Hae Young Yi, senior Post-bacc Research Associate in Dr. Carolyn Fredericks lab, on her journey to becoming a physician herself.
Academic Background
Prior to joining the Fredericks Lab, Hae Young completed a B.S. in Neuroscience and a Minor in Studio Art at Boston College. At BC, Hae Young completed her senior thesis in Dr. Maureen Ritchey’s lab, studying the relationship between eye-movements and memory in artists vs. non-artists. Hae Young’s cognitive neuroscience research background at the Memory Modulation Lab coupled with her experience as a hospice volunteer working with dementia patients inspired her to delve further into Alzheimer's disease and dementia research.
Research Interests
Hae Young’s research focuses on visuospatial dysfunction in atypical AD (PCA) and neurodegenerative diseases more generally. She’s also interested in the thalamic contributions to memory function in AD.
Collaborations
Hae Young has been a key figure in the data collection and analysis for the Dementia with Lewy Bodies study and also has worked with MD/PhD student, Hamid Abuwarda, to preprocess the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset. At the moment, Hae Young is working with PhD student, Spencer Price, on a thalamic nuclei manuscript.
Professional Development
Looking to connect with other researchers and to share her findings, Hae Young has attended the conferences: Human Amyloid Imaging 2024 (Miami, Florida), the Alzheimer’s Association National Conference 2024 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and the Alzheimer’s Association Kickoff Fundraiser (Stanford, Connecticut).
Favorite Tools/Techniques
Hae Young likes to integrate eye-trackinng, fMRI, and seed-based functional connectivity into her research.
Lab Contributions
This year, Hae Young will be presenting her poster at AAIC 2025, "Investigating Eye Movement Metrics and Traditional Visuospatial Task Performance in Heterogeneous Alzheimer’s Disease."
Her contributions to lab also include revamping the lab’s in-scanner eye-tracking and task presentation scripts to improve future data collection so we can continue investigating visuospatial dysfunction in AD. She has also played a pivotal role in the data collection, recruitment, and patient visits for the Atypical Alzheimer's disease study.
Hae Young assisted with the lab’s “Visual Deficits and Compensatory Hallucinations” review paper and is currently working on a first-author manuscript that investigates thalamic nuclei contributions to memory function in AD.
Future Goals
In the future, Hae Young aims to become a physician dedicated to community outreach and research.
Outside Interests
Beyond the lab, Hae Young enjoys reading books, drawing, going to the gym, and trying to bake sourdough bread.
Fun Facts
Hae Young went skydiving last year and her new year's resolution is to go to as many different coffee shops as she can!
Words of Wisdom
“Be curious and unafraid to ask questions! You would be surprised to find out how many unanswered questions there are for you to explore.”