Our Team

I am a Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Assistant Professor of Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and HHMI Hanna H. Gray Faculty Fellow. My lab studies how and why infections make us sick – the mechanisms by which neuroimmune interactions give rise to sickness behavior during infection, and how sickness behavior impacts host and microbial fitness. My interest in host-microbe interactions began as an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Eric Rubin (https://hsph.harvard.edu/research/rubin-lab/) studying the pathogenesis of mycobacteria. Since then, I have studied human immunity to HIV and tuberculosis as a Fulbright Scholar in Durban, South Africa (https://www.ahri.org/), mucosal immunity in the gastrointestinal tract as a PhD student with Ruslan Medzhitov (https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/ruslan-medzhitov/) at Yale, and neural control of social behavior during sickness as postdoc with Catherine Dulac (https://www.dulaclab.com/) at Harvard. The longstanding goal of my work is to bridge immunology and neuroscience in order to understand the mechanistic basis of sickness as a host defense strategy.

I enjoy studying how environmental signals drive changes in organismal behavior. My research began while I was a conservation biologist in the Seychelles Islands, where I studied population-level behaviors of birds, fish, and reptiles to help inform conservation efforts. I then became a research assistant in the Bellono Lab at Harvard, where I explored how unique organisms have evolved to sense and respond to their environment at the level of molecules and cells. Motivated to study these interactions in the context of host defense, I came to Whitehead Institute to investigate how the immune system can alter sickness behaviors like sleep during different types of infection, and how these changes, in turn, affect host defense. Outside of the lab, I enjoy wildlife photography, fishing, and listening to music.

B.S. Biology, Northeastern University

Clare received her B.S. in Biology from Duke University where she studied environmental toxicology and mitochondrial biology in C. elegans. In 2024, she matriculated to the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program. In medical school, she became fascinated by allergic immunity, physiology, and neuroimmunology, and is excited to explore these interests in the Sullivan Lab. Outside of lab, she can be found reading, baking, and spending time outdoors.

Jingwen holds a B.S. in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology from UCLA and an M.S. in Nutrition Science from Tufts University. Before transitioning into research administration, her work focused primarily on cancer metabolism. In her spare time, Jingwen enjoys hiking in the woods with her Golden Retriever, Luna. She is also an enthusiastic fan of F1 motorsports, with Red Bull Racing as her favorite team.

Adriana received her B.S. from Universidad Iberoamericana in Nutrition and Food Science. Following her interest in research, she received her M.S. from CINVESTAV in Molecular Biomedicine where she studied the impact of sweeteners on gut microbiota and kidney injury. In 2017 she worked as a Research Assistant at Ken Cadwell’s lab in NYU, focusing on host-pathogen interactions in inflammatory bowel disease. She is currently finishing her Ph.D. in Bioscience at The Rockefeller University, where she is studying the molecular mechanisms of taste in blood-feeding mosquitoes in the Vosshall lab. She is excited to combine her background in metabolism, immunology, and neuroscience to research the mechanisms of sickness during her postdoc in the Sullivan lab.

Amit received his B.S. from Brown University in Neuroscience with a certificate in Data Fluency, where he studied how the activity of hippocampal neurons can be involved in memory consolidation and learning. He then joined Steven Flavell’s lab as a technician, working on how C. elegans can generate a persistent internal state in response to repeated transient stimuli. In 2025, he joined MIT’s BCS program as a PhD student, where he hopes to study how intereoceptive and physiological signals are used in host defense. Outside of the lab, you can usually find Amit reading or running!

Maureen completed her doctoral training in Neuroscience at the University of Virginia’s Center for Brain Immunology and Glia where she studied microglial responses to neurotropic infection. After her PhD, she transitioned to bioinformatics and developed a specialization in spatial transcriptomics technologies at UVA and the Allen Institute. Maureen joined the Sullivan and Sun labs at the Whitehead Institute as a postdoctoral researcher, where her work bridges experimental and computational biology to understand how live pathogens alter host behavior and physiology.

Alina is an undergraduate student at Northeastern University pursuing a degree in Behavioral Neuroscience and Data Science, where she also studies how early life adversity affects microglial gene expression. She is excited to learn more about the neuroimmunological interactions during infection and how they influence sickness behaviors in the Sullivan Lab. Outside of lab, she can be found thrifting, reading comics, and taking advantage of her AMC Stubs membership.

My background is in preclinical and in vivo research, with experience working with animal models across oncology, autoimmune disease, and other areas of biomedical research. I joined the Sullivan Lab at Whitehead Institute as a Technical Associate I, where I support research investigating the neuroimmune basis of sickness behavior and contribute to building the lab's in vivo research capabilities. I earned my B.S. in Biology from UCDEP University in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Outside of lab, I enjoy hiking, sports, traveling, and exploring the city, especially discovering new places, good food, and spending time outdoors.