Cozette Thatcher Merza | 2026 CRISP Participant

Cozette Thatcher Merza is a senior Lincoln Scholar majoring in psychology with a minor in cognitive neuroscience. She is interested in neurology, postpartum and perinatal psychiatry, neuroimaging, and neurophysiology. At Illinois, she works in the Steel Lab studying how interactions between distributed brain networks give rise to intelligent behavior and how these systems change with aging and in neurological and psychiatric disorders using ultra-high field neuroimaging, computational modeling, and virtual reality. She previously worked with Naiman Khan in the Neurocognitive Behavioral Health Laboratory using multidisciplinary approaches in nutrition, body composition, and cognitive neuroscience to understand brain health across pediatric and adult populations. Cozette is the founder and president of the Pre-Health Psychology Association (PPA), an organization focused on mentorship, healthcare accessibility, and interdisciplinary collaboration across psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and medicine. Under her leadership, PPA has developed a partnership with an assisted-living center serving individuals with neurocognitive disabilities. She is a published co-author of the Nutrition Lab Interactive Online Module (IOM) e-textbook for Food Science and Human Nutrition (FSHN 120), where she contributed to improving accessibility and inclusivity in nutrition education materials. At Mayo Clinic, Cozette will work with Lily Wong-Kisiel, M.D. studying epilepsy diagnosis and treatment, including multimodal imaging, invasive EEG monitoring, pharmacotherapy, and dietary management for epilepsy associated with brain malformations, genetic conditions, metabolic disorders, and autoimmune causes. She plans to pursue an MD with interests in maternal psychiatry or neurology.