Meet The Team

Anna-Sophie Rommel, PhD

Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry
anna.rommel@mssm.edu

Anna’s work focuses on common exposures during pregnancy, including infections, medications and pollutants, and their link to the development of negative pregnancy and birth outcomes and suboptimal neurodevelopment in the child. She is particularly interested in exploring the extent to which COVID-19 and the ongoing pandemic disproportionately impact pregnant women from underserved communities and their children.

Marco Rizzo, MSc, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

marco.rizzo@mssm.edu

Born and raised in Southern Italy, Marco holds an M.Sc. in Psychology (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy) and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience (Aalborg University, Denmark). His interests are rooted within the field of neuropsychology with a focus on the physiology underlying human psychological, behavioral, and cognitive processes. He finds it exciting to be part of Mount Sinai and experience live music in New York at the weekends.

Rushna Tubassum, MPH

Clinical Research Coordinator
rushna.tubassum@mssm.edu

Rushna graduated from Hunter College, as a Yalow Honors Scholar, with a B.A in Human Biology. She also holds a Master’s in Public Health from the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. She is very interested in women’s mental health and understanding the links between public health and medicine, with a focus on underserved communities. In her free time, Rushna enjoys reading and traveling.

Floriana Milazzo, MPH

Data Analyst
floriana.milazzo@mssm.edu

Floriana holds a Master of Public Health in epidemiology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Barnard College, where she graduated with honors. Before joining Sinai’s Women’s Mental Health team, she worked at Columbia University Medical Center in the Substance Use Epidemiology unit. Floriana is on a scenic route to medical school and aspires to be a physician-researcher focused on serving marginalized patients and populations. Her current research interests include intergenerational psychiatry, the relationship between maternal inflammation and child neurodevelopment, and medical humanities. Outside of her research, she enjoys writing poetry, practicing hot yoga, and exploring new restaurants..

Carly Kaplan

Scholarly Year Student
carly.kaplan@icahn.mssm.edu

After being raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Carly attended Brown University where she graduated with honors, earning an Sc.B. in Neuroscience. After college, she worked in The Office of Well-Being and Resilience at Mount Sinai where her research focused on burnout and wellness in clinical medicine, with a particular focus on the effects of the pandemic on healthcare workers. She then began her medical school journey at Mount Sinai where she continues to promote and advocate for well-being interventions for her fellow trainees both locally at Sinai and nationally. Outside of medicine she enjoys hiking, drawing, long central park walks, and discovering the many amazing food gems of NYC. Her current research interests include understanding factors contributing to maternal mental health/illness in the peripartum period from both psychiatric and neurological perspectives.

Juliana Castro

Clinical Research Coordinator
juliana.camachocastro@mssm.edu

Juliana graduated from Wesleyan University in 2019 with a degree in Psychology. She has a strong interest in women’s mental health and eventually hopes to pursue a degree in Clinical Psychology with a focus on reproductive mental health.

Moussa Konde

CEYE Student Intern (Alumnus)
moussa.konde2@mssm.edu

Moussa, born and raised in Harlem, is currently a rising senior enrolled at the High School for Math, Science, and Engineering. He is interested in the usage of computing/coding and computer applications in healthcare. A recent interest of his has been artificial intelligence and the role it could potentially play in medicinal advancements. Outside of school, Moussa competes in sports, is an avid reader, loves to hang out with friends, and occasionally plays video games.