Meet the Team – Neural Circuits & Behavioral Development Lab

Neural Circuits & Behavioral Development Lab

Jennifer Donegan, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Jennifer is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Dell Medical School. She holds a courtesy appointments in the Department of Neuroscience and the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology. She is also a member of the Institute for Early Life Adversity Research, the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research.

Donegan graduated magna cum laude from Texas Christian University with a B.S. in psychology. She obtained her Ph.D. in neuroscience from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Prior to joining Dell Med, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pharmacology at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Donegan has received numerous awards for her work, including a Travel Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and a BRAIN Initiative Pathway to Independence Award.

Current Lab Members

Faith Toney

Lab Manager

Faith Toney joins the lab with a background in behavioral addiction research, which she began conducting after earning a B.S. in Chemistry at UT Rio Grande Valley and continued throughout her M.S. in Biomedical Sciences-Pharmacology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Faith has previously participated in addiction research with the Marinelli lab at UT and is now transitioning into hippocampal research with the Donegan Lab, where she will conduct behavioral experiments and assist with laboratory operations.

Jamie Palmer

Graduate Student

Jamie is a graduate student in the Institute of Neuroscience. She received her B.S. in Biology from Saint Joseph’s University in 2017 and her M.S. in Neuroscience from Temple University in 2020. Her main interests lie in the effects of early life perturbations and the impacts of these stressors on development and later-life behavior. When she’s not in the lab, Jamie enjoys cooking, doing CrossFit, and playing video games on her Nintendo Switch.

Daniel San Miguel

Graduate Student

Daniel is a graduate student in the Pharmacology & Toxicology division of the Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD program. He received his B.S in Biochemistry and B.A in Psychology from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi in 2022. His primary research interests include studying the neural circuit dysfunctions in addiction, stress, and psychiatric disorders. Outside of the lab, he enjoys going to concerts, watching movies, and playing piano.

Megan Hall

Graduate Student

Megan is a graduate student in the Institute of Neuroscience. She received her B.S. in Neuroscience from Colorado State University in 2023. Her main interests lie in molecular and cellular underpinnings behind neuropsychiatric disorders. Outside of lab, she enjoys hiking, concerts, swimming, and exploring ice cream joints.