Karianne Sretavan Wong

PhD Thesis 2026

PhD Thesis: 

From model to treatment: elucidating neural pathways underlying ventral internal capsule/ventral striatum deep brain stimulation for psychiatric disorders.

E-MAIL:  [email protected]

Undergraduate Institution and Major:

University of Rochester, B.S. in Neuroscience, 2018

Graduate Research:

My thesis focuses on enhancing the effectiveness of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the ventral anterior limb of the internal capsule (vALIC) region for individuals with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. Specifically, my work involves the integration of ultra-high field diffusion tractography from humans and non-human primate models with patient-specific computational modeling techniques to elucidate vALIC white matter organization and quantify the neural and behavioral responses induced by pathway-specific electrical stimulation.

Graduate Advisor

Matthew Johnson, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering
Noam Harel, Ph.D., Department of Radiology

Thesis Committee Members

Alik S. Widge, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences (Chair) 
Matt D. Johnson, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering (Advisor) 
Noam Harel, Ph.D., Department of Radiology (Advisor) 
Christine Conelea, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences 
Christophe Lenglet PhD., Department of Radiology

Graduate Publications

• Sretavan K, Nagrale SS, Pipia V, Sachse EM, Dastin-van Rijn EM, Kim J, Eiting S, McInnes AN, Palnitkar T, Chandrasekaran J, Braun H, Brenny S, Seddighi Y, Patriat R, Harel N, Johnson MD, Widge AS. Prefrontal cortical pathways mediating cognitive control enhancement from internal capsule stimulation. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2026 Jun 9:2026.06.08.730545.
• Patriat R, Chandrasekaran J, Sretavan K, Braun H, Brenny S, Seddighi Y, Aman JE, Hill M, Vitek JL, Harel N, Almeida L. "PICS": a novel patient-specific landmark for thalamic surgical interventions in the posterior limb of the internal capsule signal. Front Hum Neurosci. 2025 Dec 2;19:1707031.
• Sretavan K, Braun H, Liu Z, Bullock D, Palnitkar T, Patriat R, Chandrasekaran J, Brenny S, Johnson MD, Widge AS., Harel N, Heilbronner S. A reproducible pipeline for parcellation of the anterior limb of the internal capsule. Biological Psychiatry: Cogn Neurosci. Neuroimag. 2024;9(12):1249-1261
• Patriat R, Palnitkar T, Chandrasekaran J, Sretavan K, Braun H, Yacoub E, McGovern RA 3rd, Aman J, Cooper SE, Vitek JL, Harel N. DiMANI: diffusion MRI for anatomical nuclei imaging-Application for the direct visualization of thalamic subnuclei. Front Hum Neurosci. 2024 Feb 19;18:1324710.

Graduate Awards:

University of Minnesota Informatics Institute-MnDrive PhD Assistantship 2023-2024 
MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Graduate Research Fellowship 2024-2025
Sping and Ying Ngoh Lin Award 2024
The Stark Award for Advance Scholarship 2024
Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship 2025-2026

Undergraduate Publications

• Chou T, Deckersbach T, Guerin B, Sretavan Wong K, Borron BM, Kanabar A, Hayden A, Long M, Daneshzand M, Pace-Scott EF, Dougherty DD. Transcranial focused ultrasound of the amygdala modulates fear network activation and resting-state functional connectivity. Brain Stimulation. 2024 Mar 4;17(2):312-320.
• Wong KS, Chou T, Peters AT, Ellard KK, Nierenberg AA, Dougherty DD, Deckersbach T. Convergence between behavioral, neural, and self-report measures of cognitive control: The Frontal Systems Behavior Scale in bipolar disorder. J Psychiatr Res. 2022 Jun;150:317-323.
• Sretavan Wong K, Migó M, Dougherty DD, Ghaemi SN. Neural correlates of citalopram and placebo response in acute bipolar depression: A randomized trial. J Psychiatr Res. 2021 Jun;138:463-466.

Undergraduate Awards:

Neuroscience Departmental Honors 2018 
National Conference of Undergraduate Research Travel Award 2018 
West Virginia University Blanchette Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute SURI Award 2017 
Dean’s List 2015-2018