Rafael Hoyos Justiniano

I was born in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia and raised in Alexandria, VA which is a short drive from Washington, DC. I received a B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Psychology from George Mason University in 2020 where I was the first in my family to go to college. In the beginning, I was on the pred-med track, but along the way I caught the research bug after I took a class called "When Good Cells Go Bad- Nervous System Injury and Disease" and was fascinated by the strategies and techniques neuroscience research employs to not only elucidate the inner workings of cognition and behavior, but also understand and try to solve situations where these processes become dysfunctional, such as in the case of age-related neurological diseases and disorders. After this realization, I looked up labs that were conducting research pertaining to disease and behavior, but most labs at the time were only looking for graduate students, so I took the plunge and applied to the Accelerated M.A. in Psychology (with a Concentration in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience). After getting accepted, I joined the lab of Dr. Jane Flinn, where she looked at the roles of metals in behavior, Alzheimer's Disease, and traumatic brain injury. I was able to finish my courses in a year, but due to COVID-19, I finished my thesis research and graduated with my masters in 2022. After working in multiple clinics as a medical assistant and life-coaching consultant, I missed research and decided to apply for my Ph.D. in Neuroscience and matriculated to the University of Michigan, where I joined the Ruas lab and hope to identify ways that exercise can improve brain health and advance knowledge towards identifying exercise-based therapeutics.