OUR TEAM

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DR. ALEXANDER HERMAN

MD/PHD

Alexander Herman is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical School and a member of the Medical Discovery Team on Addiction. He obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Francisco as part of the prestigious NIH Medical Scientist Training Program. Prior to that, he studied complex systems at the Santa Fe Institute. He obtained his B.A. in Physics with High Honors from Wesleyan University. Dr. Herman's interests include the neural mechanisms of decision making that are impaired in depression, addiction and parkinson's disease that may be amenable to treatment with neuromodulation. He combines invasive and non-invasive methods including intracranial electrophysiology, direct brain stimulation, magnetoencephalography and transcranial magnetic stimulation.

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DR. DAVID DARROW

Dr. David Darrow is a board-certified functional and pain neurosurgeon and Associate Professor in the Departments of Neurosurgery and Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota. He also holds the Rockswold-Kaplan Endowed Chair for Traumatic Brain Injury at Hennepin County Medical Center. Dr. Darrow treats diseases of the central nervous system with neuromodulation, including epilepsy, movement disorders, trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain, chronic pain, and psychiatric diseases.

Dr. Darrow is co-PI of the Herman-Darrow Human Neuroscience Lab, whose mission is to understand and treat disorders of the nervous system with neuromodulation. The lab links circuit-level electrophysiology with behavior. By pairing neuromodulation with a quantitative understanding of the brain's pathological circuits, the lab aims to help patients improve their symptoms and quality of life.

SETH KOENIG

Research Scientist

Seth Koenig obtained his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and completed his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Washington. His interests include electrophysiology, data analysis, computer programing, behavior, and eye movements.

Gabby Hernandez

Research Professional

Gabby graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in Psychology and minor in Neuroscience. She is interested in the biological and psychological mechanisms of impulsivity and decision-making. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and relaxing with her cat.

Matthew Maple

Lab Manager

Matthew earned his B.S. in Biology with a Neuroscience minor, and a Master of Biological Sciences degree with an emphasis in neuroscience, both from the University of Minnesota. He is interested in making life easier for people with any sort of psychiatric or neurological illness, injury, or other dysfunction.

Lanie Goodman Keiser

Pain Program Manager

Melanie Goodman Keiser is a new Research Manager in the Herman/Darrow lab. She earned her Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and has spent
most of her career in the medical device industry, specializing in translational neuroscience of pain, neuromodulation, and clinical research. Throughout her career, she has held scientific and leadership roles at Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, Coloplast, and the University of Minnesota, contributing to numerous publications, patents, and innovative medical technologies.

Working with the HD team, she will be overseeing the growing pain portfolio, leading strategic program management, regulatory oversight, budgeting, contracts, and clinical research operations.

Outside of work, Melanie enjoys spending time with her family or out for a run.