Dr Stephanie Mok

Doctoral Scientist

Dr Stephanie Mok graduated from Harvard University with an Artium Baccalaureus (A.B.) in Neurobiology and secondary concentration in Health Policy. During her undergraduate degree she worked as a researcher in a developmental Neurobiology lab under Dr. Michael Greenberg at Harvard Medical School where she characterized the function of two transcription factors, Bhlhb5 and Prdm8, in the development and maturation of the mouse central nervous system. In her senior honors thesis work, she analyzed the mechanistic relationship between Bhlhb5 and Prdm8 in the regulation of target genes crucial in the formation of neurons in the neurosensory and motor pathways in mice.

She conducted her PhD study as a collaborative project under Dr. Scott Young at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Professors Simon Baron-Cohen and Bhismadev Chakrabarti at the University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre. She completed an MRI study in mice examining the role of oxytocin on activity in the amygdala of the brain during the processing of emotion-associated social stimuli; and in parallel she tested adults with autism spectrum conditions using the same behavioural paradigm.

She is now a Policy Analyst in the Office of Management and Budget in Washington DC. She works as in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where her portfolio at  includes public health and scientific regulatory policy.