Dr. Edna Normand

Biography

Edna Normand is a resident physician at the Yale Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Research Training Program. She strives to bridge the gap between medicine, science, and society in her work. Edna completed her PhD at Princeton University and her MD at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, part of a joint MD/PhD program. Her research utilizes tools from machine learning and whole-brain connectomics to map sexually dimorphic brain circuits in flies, with a focus on audiovisual signals and their impact on real-time motor responses during natural social interactions. Her dissertation intersects with various fields including systems neuroscience, computational neuroscience, and neuroethology, specifically emphasizing multisensory signal processing. Edna has received funding from the NIH F30 grant and has presented her work at both national and international conferences. Among her recognitions, she was honored with Merck’s Top 10 Global Innovator award and the NIH BRAIN Initiative highlight award. Her prior experience includes earning dual bachelor’s degrees in neurobiology and media studies on a full merit scholarship at Macaulay Honors College (CUNY-Hunter) and working for 15 years in award-winning service leadership roles during public emergencies like Hurricane Sandy. Inspired by her formative encounters with underserved immigrant communities, Edna developed a strong interest in public psychiatry and aims to improve the lives of chronically ill patients. She has provided integrated care to uninsured patients in a free clinic for nine years, and at Yale, she is building an interdisciplinary research program focused on psychotic disorders and brain-body intersections while serving the New Haven community with outstanding compassionate care.

Research Interests