Melisa Olgun

Melisa Olgun is the Principal Investigator of the NYC Mental Health Research Group in the International Socioeconomics Laboratory, where she leads a project that analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on demand for mental health services. Currently, she is an incoming J.D. Candidate at Yale Law School. She previously completed her B.A. with high honors at Wesleyan University, where she double-majored in Neuroscience & Behavior and Science in Society. She served as a Research Assistant at the Schizophrenia Cognition Laboratory and researched the efficacy of cognitive remediation in schizophrenia. While there, she investigated the role of systemic oppression on medical marginalization; specifically, she analyzed the role of racism, classism, and the patriarchy with medicine to alter both the definitions and diagnoses of schizophrenia. Melisa also serves as a contributor to the National Curriculum in Reproductive Psychiatry, the first comprehensive medical curriculum that aims to teach reproductive psychiatry to mental health professionals.