Fueled by resilience and a hunger to learn, 2019 ºÚÁÏÍø graduate Ya’el Courtney has transformed adversity into ambition, carving a path for herself that took her from foster care to postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University.
After leaving foster care at 15 and working long hours in fast food to support herself, Courtney earned her GED and enrolled at Kent State, where she majored in biology, with a concentration in molecular/cellular biology. While juggling her coursework, jobs and volunteer work in the research lab, Courtney developed a deep interest in neuroscience, particularly the brain’s ability to change, a concept known as neuroplasticity.
Her time at Kent State was defined by determination and resilience, including surviving on little sleep and facing illness without access to health care. Despite these obstacles, she thrived academically and found her calling in scientific research. After graduating from Kent State in 2019, Courtney’s academic journey took her to Harvard, where her work focused on the choroid plexus, a little-known but essential tissue in the brain that produces cerebrospinal fluid and acts as a gatekeeper between the brain and the bloodstream. Her research explored how molecular signals secreted by this tissue influence brain development. One key area of investigation looked at how activating certain serotonin receptors during pregnancy can alter these signals – potentially disrupting fetal brain development and resulting in long-term behavioral differences.
Now a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, Courtney is studying why some individuals experience lingering symptoms long after recovering from infections, such as in cases of long COVID. Her work focuses on a cross-section of neuroscience, immunology and public health, with the goal of improving understanding of brain-body communication and advancing safer, more inclusive medical research.