Meet Our Team
Principal Investigator
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Read More about Kelly Sloane, MD, MSKelly Sloane, MD, MS
Principal Investigator, Sloane Neurorecovery Lab; Assistant Professor of Neurology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Co-Principal Investigator, Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation; Center Scientist, Center for Brain Science, Translation, Innovation, & Modulation
Department of Neurology Faculty page
Kelly Sloane, MD, MS
Principal Investigator, Sloane Neurorecovery Lab; Assistant Professor of Neurology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Co-Principal Investigator, Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation; Center Scientist, Center for Brain Science, Translation, Innovation, & Modulation
Department of Neurology Faculty page
Dr. Kelly Sloane is a vascular neurologist and neurorehabilitation specialist at the University of Pennsylvania. In her clinical practice, she cares for patients suffering from stroke and other brain injuries at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She also cares for Veterans at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA with a weekly outpatient clinic. She received her B.A. in Classics at University of Pennsylvania. She received her M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and went on to complete her residency in Neurology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. After residency, she earned fellowships in Vascular Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women’s Hospital as well as Neurorecovery at Mass General/Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.
Dr. Sloane’s clinical and research interests focus on recovery of cognitive function after stroke as well as healthcare technology. She has led studies on motor-cognitive recovery after stroke and technology-based cognitive assessment tools, She directs the Neurorecovery Laboratory, which is comprised of a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, neuroscientists, engineers, and scholars of humanities all working together with the goal of improving recovery for stroke survivors. Her work is supported by: American Heart Association Career Development Award, Penn CTSA KL2/K12 Mentored Career Development Award program, UPenn University Research Foundation, The Thomas B. and Jeannette E. Laws McCabe Fund and by generous philanthropic support.
Lab Members
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Read More about Harris Drachman, BA, MSHarris Drachman, BA, MS
Clinical Research Coordinator
Harris Drachman, BA, MS
Clinical Research Coordinator
Harris graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and a Master of Science in psychology at Villanova University. His graduate school training focused on cognition and cognitive neuroscience, and he conducted his thesis on the ability to inhibit distractions in a visual scene using information stored in working memory. Harris's research interests include neurorehabilitation and recovery of cognitive impairments following brain injury or illness. His previous work involved research on the recovery from and chronic effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI). At the LCNS, he is involved in projects investigating the clinical use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in the rehabilitation of language and cognition function following stroke and neurodegenerative disease. Harris is preparing to start a Ph.D. program in Psychology.
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Read More about Joseph Sheridan, MA, CCC-SLPJoseph Sheridan, MA, CCC-SLP
Clinical Research Coordinator, Speech Language Pathologist
Joseph Sheridan, MA, CCC-SLP
Clinical Research Coordinator, Speech Language Pathologist
Joseph graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Temple University as well as a Master of Science in Speech Language Pathology from LaSalle University. His training as a Speech Language Pathologist has provided him with a growing knowledge and interest in language and cognition, both impaired and unimpaired. Joseph’s research interests include recovery of language abilities post stroke. He is involved in projects investigating the clinical use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in the rehabilitation of language and cognition function following stroke and neurodegenerative diseases.
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Read More about Leslie Vnenchak, MA, CCC-SLPLeslie Vnenchak, MA, CCC-SLP
Speech Language Pathologist, Chief of Clinical Research Operations of the Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation
Leslie Vnenchak, MA, CCC-SLP
Speech Language Pathologist, Chief of Clinical Research Operations of the Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation
Leslie earned her bachelor's degree in Communication Disorders at Penn State University followed by her Master's degree in Speech Language Pathology at The College of New Jersey. She joined the University of Pennsylvania Health System in 2006. She has extensive experience as a therapist working with patients with post-stroke aphasia and has is highly experienced in the administration of therapies relevant to ongoing patient-related projects in the LCNS. She serves as the Chief of Clinical Research Operations of the Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation (of which Dr. Sloane is a Co-PI) and has been leading initiatives aimed at improving screening for cognitive and language impairments after stroke. She also supervises SLP graduate students from Temple and LaSalle.
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Read More about Taylor Phillips, BATaylor Phillips, BA
Medical Student, former Clinical Research Coordinator
Taylor Phillips, BA
Medical Student, former Clinical Research Coordinator
Taylor graduated from Rice University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience. She is currently a medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to enrollment at Penn Medicine, she was a clinical research coordinator in our laboratory with research aimed at investigating the use of transcranial direct stimulation (tDCS) and language therapy for individuals diagnosed with Primary Progressive Aphasia. Despite a full academic workload, she has continued to be involved in research. She developed and implemented our QI initiative aimed at improving screenings for cognitive and language impairments in acute stroke patients. Her work resulted in a podium presentation at the 2025 International Stroke Conference. She also received a Penn Cares grant to support a brain health education series that she runs at the Philadelphia Senior Center.
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Read More about Vivian Chioma, MD, PhD
Vivian Chioma, MD, PhD
Neurology Resident
Vivian Chioma, MD, PhD Website
Dr. Chioma is a Penn neurology resident and soon to be stroke fellow at the University of Texas at Houston. She received her MD/PhD in 2022 at the Medical University of South Carolina with her research focused on the neurobiology of addiction. During her clinical training, she developed an interest in post-stroke neuropsychiatric co-morbidities. Combining her interests in the addiction and stroke, she is currently leading a research study on history of drug use and stroke risk.
Collaborators
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Read More about Roy Hamilton, MD, MSRoy Hamilton, MD, MS
Roy Hamilton, MD, MS
Dr. Roy Hamilton is a Professor in the departments of Neurology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also directs the Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation (LCNS). He has been engaged in research in the field of brain stimulation since 1998, and has employed TMS and tDCS in a range of studies exploring a range of topics, including but not limited to cognitive control, visuospatial processing, language production, semantic memory, and creativity. He is a clinically trained behavioral neurologist and cognitive neuroscientist, and as such has dedicated his career to exploring the structure-function and network-function relationships that underpin complex human behaviors. Dr. Hamilton’s work has been supported by a variety of funding agencies, including the NIH, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, American Academy of Neurology, Society for Neuroscience, Association for Frontotemporal Dementia, and Templeton Foundation. Dr. Hamilton also serves as Director of the Penn Clinical Neurosciences Training Program. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the American Academy of Neurology's Norman Geschwind Award for behavioral neurology research and Penn's Leonard Berwick Award for excellence in basic science and clinical education.
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Read More about H. Branch CoslettH. Branch Coslett
H. Branch Coslett
Dr. Coslett the William N. Kelley Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania and a Research Neurologist with the Moss Rehabilitation Hospital and Co-Primary Investigator, Laboratory of Cognition and Neural Stimulation. Dr. Coslett's research interest is in the area of Behavioral/Cognitive Neurology, and more specifically in understanding the architecture and neural bases for human cognition through the study of human spatial cognition, reading, semantic memory, functional imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation.
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Read More about Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton, PhD, ABPP/CNDawn Mechanic-Hamilton, PhD, ABPP/CN
Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton, PhD, ABPP/CN
Dr. Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology, Chief of the Division of Neuropsychology, and Director of Cognitive Fitness Programs and Neuropsychological Services at the Penn Memory Center. She Co-Leads the Clinical Core in Penn’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and Co-Leads the ADRD Pilot Core for the Penn AI and Technology Collaboratory for Healthy Aging (PennAITech). Dr. Mechanic-Hamilton’s research focuses on technology-based methods of cognitive assessment and behavioral intervention in AD/ADRD.
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Read More about Kimberly Waddell, PhD, MSCI
Kimberly Waddell, PhD, MSCI
Kimberly Waddell, PhD, MSCI Website
Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Affiliated Faculty, Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, University of Pennsylvania
Research Health Scientist, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center; Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion
Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania
Affiliated Faculty, Population Aging Research Center, University of Pennsylvania
Faculty Advisor, Behavioral Science, Nudge Unit, University of Pennsylvania
Faculty Advisor, Behavioral Science, Population Health Lab, Penn Medicine
Associate Director for Research, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Waddell’s research expertise includes applying behavioral economic principles to 1) help improve physical activity and disease self-management for adults with neurologic disease and 2) improve the translation of in-clinic improvements to daily life for adults receiving rehabilitation services. This work includes wearable devices and remote monitoring technologies. She also leverages administrative and electronic health record data to better understand post-stroke recovery, disability, and identifying patient populations who may benefit from remote monitoring interventions to improve overall health.
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Read More about Jeremy Charles, MDJeremy Charles, MD
Jeremy Charles, MD
Dr. Charles is an Associate Professor in the Academic Clinician Pathway in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Co-Primary Investigator in the LCNS. Dr. Charles is board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and subspecialty board certified in Brain Injury Medicine. He serves as the Director of Brain Injury Services for the Department of PM&R and is the Medical Director of the Penn Medicine Rehabilitation Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Brain Injury Recovery Unit. He is interested in collaborating with other experts on investigating how Neuromodulation interventions can help towards enhancing neuro-recovery after stroke as well as non-traumatic and traumatic brain injuries.
Students
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Read More about Forrest Lin
Forrest Lin
Undergraduate Researcher
Forrest Lin Website
Forrest is a member of the Class of 2027 in the School of Engineering. He is interested in the clinical application of neuromodulation (modifying neural activity by delivering electric/magnetic impulses) to alleviate cognitive impairments in various mechanisms of disease/injury (stroke, dementia, small vessel disease, etc). With the support of the University Scholars program (an undergraduate honors program to promote research), he has participated in a wide range of projects in the lab including: benchmarking large language models (LLMs) as alternative methods to automate the transcription of impaired speech, performing cognitive and language assessments with post-stroke patients, and exploring social media depictions of post-stroke impairments.
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Read More about Lily ShanglooLily Shangloo
Undergraduate Researcher
Lab Alumni
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Read More about Angela Han, BA, BS
Angela Han, BA, BS
Angela Han, BA, BS Website
Angela worked in the lab as an undergraduate researcher during her time as a student at Haverford College, where she studied Neuroscience and Fine Arts. For her senior thesis, she studied how TMS can differentiate between cognitively normal and cognitively impaired individuals with small vessel disease (SVD), a subtype of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). She reviewed literature regarding different diagnostic techniques used for vascular-related conditions, resulting in publication of a scoping review, and she conducted TMS testing on adults with small vessel disease. She was the recipient of the Gertrude Albert Heller Memorial Grant from Haverford College. She is currently a Clinical Research Coordinator Associate in the Purdon Lab at Stanford University School of Medicine and planning to apply to medical school.
