Meet the Team

Aaron Boes, MD, PhD

Lab Director and Principal Investigator
Google Scholar, Twitter , CV

Dr. Boes' research focuses on the relationship of brain structure and function. He has used a variety of approaches to this topic, including structural MRI, lesion mapping, and resting state functional connectivity MRI. He recently developed a novel approach for investigating the network effects of focal brain lesions that integrates lesion mapping with normative data from the human connectome project. Dr. Boes is also a physician and splits his clinical time between pediatric neurology and directing the Iowa Noninvasive Brain Stimulation Clinical Program.

Joel Bruss, BA

Imaging Specialist and Research Manager

Joel has over a decade of experience in lesion mapping studies as well as structural and functional imaging. Current projects focus on quantifying lesion load in white matter tracts and processing fcMRI data.

Carrie Shea, MA

Project Coordinator

Carrie has a master's in clinical psychology from the University of Northern Iowa and is in both the Boes and Hwang Labs as a study coordinator for the Iowa Neurological Lesion Registry.

Joseph Griffis, PhD

Associate Research Scientist/Engineer

Joseph is a research scientist in the Boes Lab. He has a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is an expert in neuroimaging, neuroscience, neuroanatomy, and connectomics. Through the Boes Lab, he has created a software toolbox for the analysis of stroke neuroimaging.

Mark Bowren, PhD

Postdoctoral fellow

Mark is a clinical neuropsychology postdoctoral fellow. He performs neuropsychological evaluations through the Benton Neuropsychology Clinic, and his research with our team focuses on lesion network mapping of cognitive and emotional processes.

Kathleen Langbehn, BA

Clinical Trials Research Assistant and Data Manager

Kathleen is a research assistant. She currently assists with patient recruitment, data management, and neuropsychological testing.

Michal Brzus, BSE, MS

Electrical and Computer Engineering PhD Student

Michal is a Ph.D. student in Electrical & Computer Engineering. As a part of SINAPSE lab and the Boes Lab, he specializes in developing state-of-the-art medical tools using the latest advancements in Artificial Intelligence. His current project utilizes Deep Learning, classical Machine Learning, and Image Processing techniques to build an automated tool for neuroimage processing, lesion segmentation, and outcome prediction.