Yanaira (Yanay) Alonso-Caraballo hails from Puerto Rico. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Biology-Biomedical Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico at Ponce in 2013. Her academic journey led her to pursue a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she conducted her research under the guidance of Dr. Carrie Ferrario, graduating in 2019.

Following her doctoral studies, Yanay furthered her research as a postdoctoral scholar at McLean Hospital-Harvard Medical School, working in the labs of Dr. Elena Chartoff and Dr. Vadim Bolshakov. She also received the National Institute of Health’s D-SPAN (F99/K00) fellowship, which funded her graduate and postdoctoral studies.

Yanay continues her scholarly pursuits as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota, contributing to the Medical Discovery Team on Addiction (MDT-A). Her research explores the intricate interplay between the reproductive cycle and ovarian hormones, shedding light on the behavioral and neural mechanisms that underlie motivation and reward-seeking behaviors in females.

Twitter: @yanay_ac