Lana Grasser

Lana Ruvolo Grasser (she/her/hers) is a 5th year doctoral candidate in the Translational Neuroscience Program at Wayne State University and an alumna of Michigan State University. She is a member of the Stress, Trauma, and Anxiety Research Clinic as well as the Jovanovic Lab, and she is co-mentored by Drs. Arash Javanbakht and Tanja Jovanovic. Her NIMH-funded dissertation project, “Biomarkers of Risk and Resilience to Trauma in Syrian Refugee Youth”, seeks to identify possible biological indicators of trauma-related psychopathology in youth exposed to civilian war trauma and forced migration. Ms. Grasser is extending this work to query efficacy and underlying mechanisms of creative arts and movement therapies to address trauma-related psychopathology and has published initial data regarding this work in JAACAP and Arts in Psychotherapy. Outside of the lab, Lana enjoys scuba diving with her dad, traveling the world, hiking, running, biking, swimming, and practicing yoga.