UCLA-CDU Dana Center

The UCLA CDU Dana Center is an interdisciplinary initiative that reimagines the relationship between neuroscience and the public. Our mission is to develop a practice of community partnered neuroscience, influencing education, research, and systems change through centering the knowledge of local communities in neuroscience research.

To this end, we bring together scholars from neuroscience, social science, education, policy, and the humanities to work with local clinician-scholars, community partners, and organizations in South Los Angeles. Our goal is to foster new types of experts, including neuroscientists capable of leading community participatory research and community experts who can navigate the methods of neuroscience.

The Center’s activities are organized around four main pillars:

• Education Initiative
• Neuroscience and Society Co-Lab
• Idea Salon Series
• Systems Change Project

Each of these areas hosts activities which foster new cross-disciplinary training, new research paradigms, and new collaborative relationships. 

Our First Year

• We launched our inaugural year-long interdisciplinary fellowship opportunities in October 2024, funding fellows from UCLA, CDU, and the South LA community, as well as postdoctoral fellows from UCLA. This year’s fellowship will conclude at the end of June 2025, and we are thoroughly impressed by the contributions of our fellows and inspired by what they are gaining from the experience. We hope to continue collaborating with many of the 2024-2025 fellows in various capacities.

• Additionally, we conducted our first seed grant application process, funding six projects across UCLA and CDU. Each project received $50,000, and their work will support the mission of the Center over the timeline of January 2025 to December 2026.

Our Second Year

• As we expand our capacity to address other areas of our mission, we are increasing the frequency of our Human-Centered Design (HCD) Workshops for the broader academic community and South Los Angeles. We initiated this effort with a series of community engagement workshops and look forward to establishing a regular schedule for our HCD sprints.

• Later this year, we plan to host a series of Idea Salons aimed at fostering discussion, inspiring research, and building a shared understanding across the boundaries of traditional neuroscience and society.

Ashley Feinsinger, PhD

Ashley Feinsinger is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Chair of the Ethics Education Theme. Her work advances ethical practices in invasive neural device research with humans through qualitative research, conceptual analysis, and cross-disciplinary discussion. Current projects reexamine the concepts of “benefit”, “trust”, and “engagement” in invasive brain research through collaborations with neuroscientists, disability advocacy organizations, and participants. Funded by the BRAIN Initiative, her work has been published in Neuron, Neurosurgery, and the Journal of Medical Ethics. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Philosophy from UCLA.

Amy Woods, MD

Amy Woods is the founding training director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship program and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. Dr. Woods graduated with a BA in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She subsequently completed a post-baccalaureate program at Columbia University in New York City and returned to California to attend Keck School of Medicine for her medical training.  Dr. Woods completed her adult psychiatry residency at UCLA/San Fernando Valley/VA Greater Los Angeles and child and adolescent fellowship at UCLA.

Helena Hansen, MD, PhD

Helena Hansen is a Professor and Interim Chair of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and Interim Director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She is the author of over 100 articles in leading clinical and social science journals, and of three books: Addicted to Christ: Remaking Men in Puerto Rican Pentecostal Drug Ministries; Structural Competency in Medicine and Mental Health: A Case-Based Approach to Treating the Social Determinants of Health (with Jonathan Metzl); and Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Heroin in America (with Jules Netherland and David Herzberg). She has received numerous awards, including an honorary doctorate from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and election to the National Academy of Medicine.

Denese Shervington, MD, MPH

Denese Shervington has an intersectional career in public health and academic psychiatry. She is the Chair of Psychiatry and Professor at Charles R. Drew University. Dr. Shervington has held Clinical Professorships at Columbia University and Tulane University. She graduated New York University School of Medicine, holds an MS of Public Health in Population Studies and Family Planning from Tulane University School of Public Health, and completed her residency at UC San Francisco. She is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. A Fellow of the American Psychiatry Association (APA), she is a recipient of the APA’s Award for Excellence in Service and Advocacy and the Jeanne Spurlock Minority award. A member of the American College of Psychiatrists, she serves on the Psychiatry Resident-In-Training Commission. Dr. Shervington is the author of Healing Is the Revolution, a guide to healing from historical, intergenerational, interpersonal, and community trauma, and hosts the podcast of the same name. She is the proud parent of two amazing children – Iman and Kaleb, and three grandchildren – Ayelet, Hadassah, and Yoav.

Gina Poe, PhD

Gina Poe is a neuroscientist and sleep researcher who was born and raised in Los Angeles. She has a research laboratory that studies how memories, emotions, and cognition are served by sleep and how these things are impacted by disturbed or maladaptive sleep. Graduate students in her lab are examining how stressful memories are put to rest during sleep, how we gain insight through sleep in the right place at the right time, and how restful sleep can prevent cognitive problems and addiction. Her work has been featured in major podcast interviews, on Netflix and NOVA, and in talks delivered around the world. At UCLA she also prepares dozens of undergraduates to enter the STEM workforce through funded research experiences and going to grad school as she the Chuck Lorre Scholars Program endowed faculty chair. Dr. Poe has a deep love of Los Angeles and is excited to interact with others bringing society to neuroscience and neuroscience to society.  

Sabrina Shange Amani, MS

Sabrina Amani is a multi-talented administrative veteran and brings a strong background in community building, operations administration, and collaborative leadership to the directorial team of the Dana Center. Previously the Psychiatry Department Administrator at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, she worked with Drs. Shervington and Woods to successfully expand the psychiatry department. Ms. Amani has directed her own consultancy, worked at health and environmental relations organizations, and lectured in English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She earned a BA at Spelman College and MS at Pace University in NYC.