
Role: Director of Neuroscience, Director of Neuro Camp, and Associate Professor of Psychology
How long have you been at Loyola? 9 years (!!)
Favorite thing about Loyola or teaching? Definitely Loyola's student body. Loyola students are bright, socially aware individuals who care about making a positive impact in their community. Coming to work and engaging with them every day is such a joy.

Dr. Madison Silverstein, Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences has expanded her research to address the psychological effects of the COVID pandemic and how it has impacted those with pre-existing mental and physical health issues, as well as now supervising a student’s research regarding the residual cognitive 'fog' that COVID sufferers have reported.

David Zelaya PSYC'12 has been selected as the 2022 Young Alumnus of the Year. This award honors one young alumnus who has given most generously of their time, talent, and philanthropy to their alma mater and community.
After graduating from Loyola with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Psychology, David pursued his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Georgia State University.
To learn more click here.
Photo by Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune
Congratulations to our Loyola Psychological Sciences alum Erika Rajo, '09 for being apart of the Gambit's 40 Under 40 class of 2022 list. She is currently the director of the University Medical Center Trauma Recovery Clinic and co-director of the Spirit of Charity Trauma Center Psychiatry Research Unit in New Orleans.
Dr. Silverstein and recent psychology graduate Angélica Pagán attended the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico in June 2022. Angélica presented three posters on COVID-19 safety guideline adherence, telemental health outcomes by race/ethnicity, and the impact of financial strain on mental health during the pandemic using her senior thesis data. Dr.

Congratulations to Gabriela Spizale, for winning a 2022 Student Achievement Award in Research from Division 53 of APA (Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology). This award was based on work she recently presented at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America conference held in Denver (“The Relation Among Parental Psychological Control, Intellectual Functioning, and Child Anxiety in an Ethnically Diverse Sample of Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder”).

Congratulations to Dr. Madison Silverstein for being awarded the Faculty Excellence in Research Award!

Gabriela Cornejo was accepted to the Irvine Summer Internship in Neuroscience Program, a neuroscience internship program at the University of California, Irvine. The program provides a $600 weekly stipend, paid housing and meal package, and travel to and from California. Through the program, Gabriela will conduct interdisciplinary neuroscience research on the neurobiological mechanisms of learning and memory and present her research at the Spring CNLM Annual Conference.

Raquel Zumaeta received the Access Path (AP) to Psychology and Law Award for her research project titled, " Community Based De-escalation and Crisis Intervention." The award includes a $3,600 stipend across two semesters, $100 to cover research expenses, and a reimbursement to attend the 2022 AP-LS conference. Raquel's project aims to examine what the Loyola community knows about mental health crisis intervention and de-escalation techniques.

Dr. Madison Silverstein has a new publication in Psychometric properties of the assessment of COVID-19 attitudes and behaviors, published in Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policies (Silverstein, Mekawi, Alonzi, & La Torre).