Rachel Sharkey

Rachel joined SIPRC as a Research Associate in 2024. She is responsible for processing and analyzing the neuroimaging data collected in the SHReD and SHReD Consequences study. 

Rachel completed her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at McGill University and then had post-doctoral positions at the University of Iowa and the University of Calgary. All her work has been focused on neuroimaging and has included working in epilepsy, adolescent development, neuropsychiatry and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, before her current move to research in concussion.

When she isn’t at work she is probably doing fiber crafts or reading books, or possibly both simultaneously.

Sidhu AS, Duarte KNT, Shahid TH, Sharkey RJ, Lauzon ML, Salluzzi M, McCreary C, Protzner A, Goodyear B, Frayne R, (2025) Age- and sex-specific patterns in adult brain network segregation. Human Brain Mapping. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.70169. 

Sharkey RJ, Cortese F, Goodyear BG, Korngut LW, Jacob SM, Sharky KA, Kalra S, Nguyen MD, Frayne R, Pfeffer G (2024) Longitudinal analysis of glymphatic function in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and primary lateral sclerosis Brain. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae288. 

Sharkey RJ, Bacon C, Peterson Z, Rootes-Murdy K, Salvador R, Pomarol-Clotet E, Karuk A, Homan P, Ji E, Omlor W, Homan S, Kircher T, Stein F, Brosch K, Krug A, Nenadic I, Sim K, Spalletta G, Sponheim SR, Demro C, Ramsay IS, King M, Quide Y, Green MJ, Calhoun VD, Turner JA, van Erp TGM, Nickl-Jochkschat T (2024) Differences in the neural correlates of schizophrenia with positive and negative formal thought disorder in patients with schizophrenia in the ENIGMA dataset. Molecular Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-024-02563-z

Sharkey RJ & Nickl-Jockschat T. (2023) The neurobiology of autism spectrum disorder as it relates to twice exceptionality. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. Apr;200:107740 doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2023.107740 

Janouschek H, Camilleri JA, Peterson Z, Sharkey RJ, Eickhoff CR, Grozinger M, Eickhoff SB, Nickl-Jockschat T. (2021) Meta-analytic evidence for volume increases in the medial temporal lobe after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Biological Psychiatry. 90(4) E11-E17 

Janouschek H, Chase H, Sharkey RJ, Peterson ZJ, Camilleri J, Abel T, Eickhoff SB, Nickl-Jockschat T. (2020) The Functional Neural Architecture of Dysfunctional Reward Processing in Autism. NeuroImage: Clinical. 31.  

Afzali MH, Dagher A, Edalati H, Bourque J, Spinney S, Sharkey RJ, Conrod P. (2020) Adolescent resting-state brain networks and unique variability of conduct problems within the externalizing dimension. Journal of Personality Disorders. 34(5): 609-627 https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi.2020.34.5.609.

Sharkey RJ, Bourque J., Larcher K, Mišić B, Zhang Y, Altınkaya A, Sadikot A, Conrod P, Evans AC, Garavan H, Leyton M, Séguin JR, Pihl R, Dagher A. (2019) Mesolimbic connectivity signatures of impulsivity and BMI in early adolescence. Appetite 132, 25–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.09.019 

Sharkey RJ. “I’m in neuroplastic heaven”: Putting the Dollhouse in the context of modern neuroscience (2016) Slayage: The Official Journal of the Whedon Studies Association. 14.2 [44] (Summer).

Sharkey RJ, Karama S, Dagher A. (2015) Overweight is not associated with cortical thickness alterations in children. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 9(24). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2015.00024. 

Kosior RK, Sharkey R, Frayne R, Federico P. (2012) Voxel-based relaxometry for cases of an unresolved epilepsy diagnosis. Epilepsy Research. 99(1-2): 46-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2011.10.015. 

Sharkey RJ, Kosior RK, Federico P, Frayne R.  (2010) Age effects on voxel-based relaxometry used for epileptic patients. Epilepsy Research. 92(1): 41-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2010.08.005.