Research Matters Podcast

Dr. Averill is an assistant professor in the Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and research fellow in the clinical neurosciences division of the National Center for PTSD VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Her research focuses primarily on studying the neurobiological mechanisms involved in ketamine as a treatment for PTSD and suicidality. Although Dr. Averill originally got her degree in counseling psychology, she later made the switch to neuroscience, which is her current passion. In today’s interview, we discuss Dr. Averill’s career path and how she changed research focus, how she decides whether to spend time writing grants or publishing papers, why collaboration is so important, and why getting involved in professional organizations is worth it. We also learn about her research of ketamine. Finally, we discuss why it’s important to tell compelling stories…but to make sure you’re telling the story of the data and not making the data fit your story.    Abbreviations mentioned in the episode:I