We are absolutely thrilled to introduce our three Mind Your Brain Fellows for 2026! Please help us give a warm MYB family welcome to:
Michael Tepperman
School/Focus: Biology student at UPenn.
The Mission: As a TBI survivor himself, Michael’s interest is deeply personal. He is passionate about TBI care because of its highly individualized nature. He believes that because every brain injury is unique, clinicians who understand these nuances can make a far greater impact than a one-size-fits-all approach.
Raina Hutcherson
School/Focus: Neuroscience & Bioengineering student at UPenn.
The Research: Raina’s interests lie in the realm of computational neuroscience, working right at the intersection of clinical neuroscience and bioengineering to push boundaries in brain injury recovery.
William Perez
School/Focus: Neuroscience student at Vanderbilt University & Undergraduate Fellow at the Smith Neurotrauma Lab (UPenn’s Perelman School of Medicine).
The Mission: As a lifelong athlete, William is dedicated to contributing to the growing body of research surrounding brain injuries and their long-term neurodegenerative outcomes.
We are so proud to support these incredible minds as they help shape the future of TBI rehabilitation and care.
With Dr. Doug Smith, MYB board member.
L to R: Michael Tepperman, Raina Hutcherson, William Perez.
As one of three key initiatives for The Mind your Brain Foundation®, our Research Fellowships are designed to fill a gap in the continuity of care for TBI patients who seek rehabilitation options for a lifetime of improvement. We are focusing on several areas of research with select partners in the Philadelphia area, based on their clinical expertise and available resources.
Mind Your Brain proudly presents our 2025 Research Grant Recipients:
Olivia Amador (University of Penn) and Marshall Horton (Notre Dame University).
Fellowship Recipients:
Derek Wong, Shivek Narang and Andres Nunez
We proudly offered fellowships to Derek Wong, Shivek Narang, and Andres Nunez. We received applications from many, and are inspired by all of them. Each of these three young men had events in their lives that led them to become interested in studying and practicing neuroscience. (Pictured to the right with members of the Mind Your Brain Foundation Board)
Brain Injury Rehabilitation through Telehealth and Mobile Health Clinical Neuropsychology Fellowship
This Fellowship, in partnership with Moss Rehab, prepares a graduate level neuropsychology fellow for clinical and scholarly activity focusing on brain injury rehabilitation that utilizes Telehealth and mobile health technologies.
The Telehealth/Mobile Health Fellowship program will encompass one academic year, and includes supervision from staff neuropsychologists at Moss Rehab Hospital https://www.mossrehab.com and Moss Rehab Research Institute https://mrri.org. Onsite time at Moss Rehab Hospital will be divided between providing direct clinical care to adults with traumatic brain injury and compiling a literature review/resource guide on available telehealth and mobile health technology platforms for use in brain injury rehabilitation.
Listen to Nicholas Hope describe the work he is doing for the Mind Your Brain Foundation Fellowship.
In this interview, he will share the research he is conducting on ways of providing resources to patients and caregivers following brain injury and how it will improve recovery.
Nick Hope is a 4th year doctoral student at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic medicine studying clinical psychology with a specific focus in neuropsychology. He has worked in a wide range of settings including academic medical centers, rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient brain injury programs, and private institutions. He is passionate about diagnosing and assisting patients who have sustained brain injuries to be their most successful selves. His research with the Mind Your Brain Foundation has looked at ways of providing resources to patients and caregivers following injury, with a specific focus on various levels of care and needs and hopes to build off of these resources in the future.
Access to Services for Survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury
Our Second Fellowship is conducted by a Masters in Social Work student at West Chester University. The aim of the study is to identify potential barriers to treatment and rehabilitation for people with TBI. We will have a brief online survey that we hope to distribute to as many survivors of TBI as possible. This will collect qualitative data on things like how many people knew that there was funding available; how many were able to apply for funding, and how many received it; what barriers stood in the way of accessing funding (cognitive, financial, access based on location, etc). There will also be a qualitative portion where I hope to talk to five survivors of TBI who have received community re-entry services about their experience and five survivors who have not received funding to discuss what would be helpful in their rehabilitation.
