Jenny R. Masmela, BA is the Research coordinator for the Stroke Lab. Prior to joining Kessler Research Center, Ms. Masmela served as a Research Scientist for 18 years at the New York State Psychiatric Institute of Columbia University. 12 of those years she studied how natural events and stressful experiences interact with genetic mechanisms to alter the course of normal development. She also studied the biological and psychological factors that contribute to nicotine dependence and long-term smoking cessation in patients with ADHD. Ms. Masmela was Project Coordinator of an NIMH-funded multi-center clinical trial (2005) for treatment involving Alzheimer’s disease patients. Ms. Masmela received her B.A. in Mathematics from Jersey City University 1999. Fluent in both Spanish and English, Ms. Masmela provides translation for research participants and their family members in addition to coordinating the multi-faceted activities of the Stroke Lab’s many funded projects and working directly with study participants and their family members.