Kanichi Garcia Nakata Email & Phone Number

Seattle, Wa, Us

Seattle, Washington, United States

I am leveraging my experience as a scientist and project manager to accelerate pragmatic clinical trials, conduct implementation evaluation, and coordinate multisite research efforts seeking to make rapid, high-impact improvements to healthcare.

Seattle, Washington, United States

Providing consulting services for clinical and health research, with expertise in project management, pragmatic clinical trials, and data collection/management. As a dedicated independent consultant, I bring extensive experience and a passion for advancing health research through strategic study design, management, and data handling.

Seattle Children'S Research Institute, Susan M. Ferguson Lab

I studied corticolimbic brain circuits involved in reward processing, decision making, motivated behavior, and associative processes to better understand the neurobiological basis of drug addiction.My work utilized engineered viral vectors expressing DREADDs (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs) to transiently modulate neuronal activity during the development of amphetamine-induced drug sensitization and highlight how the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and its cortical "hyperdirect" inputs differentially regulate addiction-associated behaviors.This combination of cutting-edge molecular pharmacology and multiplex behavioral models allows systematic exploration of the complex interplay of brain, behavior, and environment in drug addiction and identification of targets for future addiction treatments.

Seattle Children'S Research Institute, Susan M. Ferguson Lab

I studied circuits within the brain's corticothalamic-basal ganglia network to better understand how this network regulates compulsive behaviors associated with drug addiction.My early work utilized animal behavioral models to identify the role of connections between the prefrontal cortex and striatum in the regulation of cocaine self-administration, withdrawal, and relapse. My later work examined how the subthalamic nucleus (STN) regulates addiction-associated behaviors during the development of amphetamine-induced drug sensitization.

Uc Davis Psychology Department, Brian C. Trainor Lab

I conducted research on the physiological and behavioral outcomes of chronic stress. My early work utilized an inducible transgenic mouse model of ErbB2/Her2-positive breast cancer to study the role of chronic stress in tumor growth and survival. I later received a UC Davis President's Undergraduate Fellowship to investigate the role of neuropeptide Y (NPY) in stress resilience following chronic social defeat stress in male and female Peromyscus californicus (California mice). This particular model permitted analysis of sex differences in stress resilience, which may help address disparities in mental health studies that frequently exclude female animal models.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Neuroscience

Bachelor Of Science (Bs), Neurobiology, Physiology, And Behavior

Bachelor Of Arts (Ba), Psychology