NEUROSCIENTIST & STORYTELLER
NEUROSCIENTIST & STORYTELLER
I’m a neuroscientist, writer, and educator who’s spent the last decade asking questions about how we learn, how we heal, and how we make meaning. I’ve taught in labs and classrooms, published research, designed inclusive learning experiences, and translated complex science into language that resonates.
My work lives at the intersection of curiosity and clarity—where data meets narrative, and insight becomes transformation.
Right now, I’m writing a novel that weaves together science, emotion, and purpose. It’s part of a larger mission to make the invisible visible, and to help people see themselves more clearly through the lens of neuroscience and story.
My path has always been interdisciplinary. With a PhD in neuroscience and over a decade of experience in psychology, education, and science communication, I’ve dedicated my career to exploring how the brain shapes our stories—and how stories, in turn, shape our wonderfully neurospicy brains.
My strength lies in finding patterns, asking better questions, and translating scattered information into something useful. Whether I’m writing, teaching, or consulting, I bring a grounded, strategic, and human-first approach to every project.
I write about trauma, neurodivergence, queerness, and the quiet ways identity unfolds. My work lives in the space between survival and self-discovery — tender, defiant, and rooted in truth. Whether it’s an essay, a poem, or a story I’m still living, I write to connect, to challenge, and to make space for what’s often left unsaid.
PhD, Neuroscience
The University of Georgia
2010 - 2014
Vice President UGA Graduate Psi Chi
Certificate of Completion
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
2011 - 2011
Biology of Memory
MS, Kinesiology
The University of Georgia
2008 - 2010
Specializing in Exercise Psychology
BA, Psychology
Wesleyan College
2005 - 2008
Activities and societies: President of Psi Chi Chapter
Groves-Chapman, J. L., Murray, P. S., Stevens, K. L., Monroe, D. C., Koch, L. G., Britton, S. L., Holmes, P. V., & Dishman, R. K. (2011). Changes in mRNA levels for brain-derived neurotrophic factor after wheel running in rats selectively bred for high- and low-aerobic capacity. Brain Research, 1425, 90–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2011.09.059
Webling, K., Groves-Chapman, J. L., Runesson, J., Saar, I., Lang, A., Sillard, R., Jakovenko, E., Kofler, B., Holmes, P. V., & Langel, Ü. (2016). Pharmacological stimulation of GAL1R but not GAL2R attenuates kainic acid-induced neuronal cell death in the rat hippocampus. Neuropeptides, 58, 83–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.npep.2015.12.002
Murray, P. S., Groves, J. L., Pettett, B. J., Britton, S. L., Koch, L. G., Dishman, R. K., & Holmes, P. V. (2010). Locus coeruleus galanin expression is enhanced after exercise in rats selectively bred for high capacity for aerobic activity. Peptides, 31(12), 2264–2268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peptides.2010.09.005
Ogbonmwan, Y. E., Sciolino, N. R., Groves-Chapman, J. L., Freeman, K. G., Schroeder, J. P., Edwards, G. L., Holmes, P. V., & Weinshenker, D. (2015). The galanin receptor agonist, galnon, attenuates cocaine-induced reinstatement and dopamine overflow in the frontal cortex. Addiction Biology, 20(4), 701–713. https://doi.org/10.1111/adb.12166