Social neuroscience
of pain, affect, and
psychopathology
research
The Smith Lab focuses on the mechanistic understanding of the neurobiological relationships between social behavior, pain, and emotion, while identifying the neural circuitry that is disrupted in disease models related to empathy, addiction, and depression.
Meet Dr.
Monique Smith
Dr. Smith is an Assistant Professor at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) in the departments of Neurobiology and Neurosciences. She received both her B.A. and M.A in Psychology from California State University San Marcos and her Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Oregon Health & Science University. She conducted her postdoctoral training at Stanford University with Dr. Robert Malenka.
Lab news
July 21, 2024 | We are ecstatic to announce the addition of two team members from Los Angeles Mission Community College (LAMCC) this summer! Through the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Parvaneh Mohammadian from LAMCC has been collaborating with the Smith lab to give underrepresented community college students the opportunity to remotely experience … Read more
Lab, Research
New Publication Alert!
May 22, 2024 | We’ve done it again! We have a new lab publication (our second publication!) exploring the social transfer of pain, but this time, with MDMA! If you’re familiar with our research, the social transfer of pain, we can explore the relative concept of empathy with pain in mouse models. For this model, … Read more
Events, Lab, Research
Big Smith Lab Updates!
March 2024 | In just the first two months of the year, the Smith Lab has already witnessed remarkable achievements and significant events unfold. The new year began with a joyous celebration as our Principal Investigator, Dr. Monique Smith, was honored with Sanford Institute’s Endowed Professorship in Empathy and Compassion Research. This distinguished recognition is … Read more
