People

  • Shawn Christ
  • Shawn Christ, Ph.D.
  • Director

  • Shawn Christ is the Director of the Clinical Neuropsychology Laboratory. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2004 from Washington University in St. Louis with a specialization in clinical pediatric neuropsychology. He later completed a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at Washington University during which his training focused on the utilization of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology in humans and the study of the neurocognitive processes involved in deception and lying.

    Dr. Christ is currently Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri and an Adjunct Professor at the MU Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. He also currently serves as the MRI Director at the MU Cognitive Neuroscience Systems Core Facility.

  • Scout Bolton
  • Scout Bolton
  • Graduate Student

  • Scout is a doctoral student in clinical psychology who joined the Clinical Neuropsychology Lab in 2022. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Spanish from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. After completing her undergraduate studies, Scout worked as a research coordinator in the Center for Biobehavioral Health at Nationwide Children’s Hospital under the mentorship or Drs. Kristen R. Hoskinson and Eric E. Nelson. Overall, Scout's research is concerned with elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying behavioral differences and difficulties in children with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and phenylketonuria (PKU). Scout's current research is funded by the Autism Speaks Predoctoral Fellowship for Autistic Scientists and is focused on uncovering the functional correlates of sensory sensitives in youth with ASD using fMRI technology.

  • Maia Markollari
  • Maia Markollari
  • Graduate Student

  • Maia is a doctoral student in clinical psychology who joined the Clinical Neuropsychology Lab in 2022. She received her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, where she majored in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology and Art History. After graduation, Maia worked in Dr. Laura Bierut’s laboratory at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis investigating the factors that affect the risk for alcoholism. She then went on to work as a psychometrist at the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Her current research examines differences in executive function and emotion regulation across the lifespan in individuals with PKU, using methods such as neuroimaging (fMRI).

  • Lucia Tu
  • Lucia Tu
  • Graduate Student

  • Lucia is a doctoral student in clinical psychology who joined the Clinical Neuropsychology Lab in 2025. She earned a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Education Studies from Wellesley College and an EdM in Prevention Science and Practice from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prior to joining the lab, she worked as a research coordinator in Dr. Russell Tobe’s Child Studies and Autism Lab at the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research. Her research interests include developmental psychopathology and leveraging multimodal neuroimaging to investigate brain–behavior relationships in autism spectrum disorder and phenylketonuria.

Past Doctoral Graduates

Kelly Boland
Pediatric Psychology Fellow at St. Louis Children’s Hospital

Katherine Bellesheim
Postdoctoral Fellow in pediatric neuropsychology and rehabilitation at the University of Michigan

Kimberly Bodner
Pediatric Neuropsychologist at The MetroHealth System (Cleveland, OH)
Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine

Hayley Clocksin
Pediatric Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellow & Provisionally Licensed Psychologist at Thompson Center for Autism & Neurodevelopment

Mackenzie Cissne
Pre-doctoral Intern at the Veteran’s Hospital System of the Ozarks

Braden Hayse
Pre-doctoral Intern at the Thompson Center for Autism & Neurodevelopment

Current & Past Collaborators

Richard Abrams, Dept of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis

Kristina Aldridge, Dept of Pathology & Anatomical Sciences, University of Missouri School of Medicine 

David Beversdorf, Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri 

Kimberly Bodner, Dept of Psychology, Case Western Reserve University

Nelson Cowan, Dept of Psychology, University of Missouri

Ye Duan, Dept of Computer Science, University of Missouri 

Jeffery Johnson, Dept of Psychology, University of Missouri

Stephen Kanne, Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri

Micah Mazurek, Dept of Human Services, University of Virginia

Christina McCrae, Dept of Psychiatry, University of Missouri

Judith Miles, Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri

Esperanza Font Montgomery, Dept of Genetics, Mercy Hospital Springfield

Dawn Peck, Dept of Genetics, Mayo Clinic

Janine Stichter, Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri

Desiree White, Dept of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis 

Gary Yao, Dept of Biological Engineering, University of Missouri