Ya’el Courtney, PhD
Jane Coffin Childs Fellow & postdoc in immunology @ Stanford Robinson lab | 2024 Harvard neuro PhD @LehtinenLab • @HHMINews Gilliam ‘21 • 119/100📚 in 2025
- I offer 30 min mock interviews for PhD programs for $75 - this includes pre-review of your application essays, the mock interview, and a recap sent to you with advice!
- I’ve been mentoring admissions + fellowship applications for ~6 years (through Científico Latino, Project SHORT, TechDev Academy, and as an NSF mentor via Harvard GSAS), and I finally formalized it into a clear coaching structure with options + pricing. www.yaelcourtney.com/coaching
- I’ve been mentoring admissions + fellowship applications for ~6 years (through Científico Latino, Project SHORT, TechDev Academy, and as an NSF mentor via Harvard GSAS), and I finally formalized it into a clear coaching structure with options + pricing. www.yaelcourtney.com/coaching
- I support college/transfer, PhD/grad admissions, fellowships (GRFP/F31 + others), internships, and postdoc funding with strategy, writing feedback, CV/resume help, and mock interviews. I work with a range of budgets and can suggest a smaller, high-impact place to start. Reposts appreciated 💛
- I read 150 books in 2025, here were my favorites 📚 Did you read and love (or hate) any of these? See next post to take a closer look. Also, always looking for recs! What books moved you this year? What book could you not stop thinking about? Any genre!
- The breakdown
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDAfter months of work in DC, @rephaleystevens.bsky.social has, with the support of @standupforscience.bsky.social, introduced articles of impeachment against RFK Jr. But...the press thinks it can't be done. We aren't buying it. WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!! www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/u...
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDImpeach him.
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD
- “We now have the single most effective intervention against dementia [shingles vaccine]…if this was a drug this would be a blockbuster…but since it’s a vaccine I think the public isn’t getting the magnitude” awesome @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social Grand Rounds by @erictopol.bsky.social today.
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDWhat causes long covid? Check out this week's video to see how one scientist is trying to unravel this mystery: www.youtube.com/shorts/b3OAG...
- Some engagement posts taken with self timer by my talented partner @kylemurphyphoto.bsky.social
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD[This post could not be retrieved]
-
View full threadWe did not see overt maternal toxicity or adverse birth outcomes at these doses. Effects show up in offspring brain composition and behavior. These are standard mouse doses known to produce beneficial effects in other contexts; they are not human-equivalent.
- Limitations to keep in mind: rodent dosing ≠ human exposures; parallel direct effects on embryonic neurons can’t be excluded; we still need to identify the specific CSF proteins that mediate the cortical shift. But the embryo-facing detection mechanism is clear.
-
View full threadAlso thankful for fellowship support from @hhmi.org in my PhD and now from @jcchildsfund.bsky.social! #Neurodevelopment #Psychedelics #ChoroidPlexus #CSF #DevNeuro #Pregnancy #LSD #Preprint
-
View full threadHuge thanks to my co-authors: Christian, Jozi, Cody, and @lehtinenlab.bsky.social, to NIDA DSP, & to phenomenal support @harvardmed.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @hms-nif.bsky.social, @bostonchildrens.bsky.social (esp research controlled substances team!), & @uwmadpharmacy.bsky.social.
-
View full threadTL;DR: Maternal psychedelics reach embryonic CSF within minutes, activate the choroid plexus, alter CSF, and shift cortical development in mice—yielding lasting behavioral changes. A discrete embryonic window is vulnerable via the ChP–CSF axis. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
-
View full threadPolicy-relevant point: as clinical and non-medical psychedelic use expands, pregnancy is a distinct risk context. We need careful, PK/PD-anchored studies to guide evidence-based recommendations. For now, the simple advice stands: don’t use psychedelics during pregnancy
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDThis is what the audience for a Long COVID conference looked like today. Notice anything? 😷
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDevery time sama posts about “you could have phd level intelligence i. your pocket” i simply remember that i can text actual phd @scienceyael.bsky.social whenever i want and not burn down a meadow to do it
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDExcited to see a new cohort of @hhmi.org Gilliam Fellows. I have seen the impact this program has had and am glad its continuing. Special congrats to UNC's Celeste Robles and her advisor Helen Lazear, continuing a long tradition of amazing Gilliam Fellows here
- www.hhmi.org/programs/gil... The 2025 Gilliam Fellows | HHMI
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDNo one should ever have the power to autonomously cancel hundreds of millions of dollars for scientific research based on some lies they saw on YouTube.
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDmRNA vaccines are one of the most important tools we have for preventing future catastrophic pandemics because we can update them more quickly than any other vaccine technology in response to new emerging viruses & variants. RFK Jr cancelling millions in mRNA research makes the world far less safe.
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD[This post could not be retrieved]
- P.S. this review was originally 5x longer and soooo much more fun/historical/engaging/narrative.... DM me if you want the director's cut LOL the reviewers did not care for the style.
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDCall Congress 202-224-3121 or use @5calls.org Pressure is necessary. #StandWithScience For @resist.bot write your Own letters or simply click the one below to sign and share, or text sign PQFDDW to 50409 resist.bot/petitions/PQ...
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDDavid Corey is one of the most brilliant scientists I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Cutting funding to scientists like him is going to hurt our country in so many ways including its standing in the world as well as economically. Not to mention the health of our citizens. All for what?
- [This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDOver 120 mRNA cancer trials are now at risk as the Trump admin cuts funding & tells researchers to scrub “mRNA” from grant proposals. What started as COVID fearmongering is now derailing life-saving cancer research. Hope remains - but scientists say time is running out. zurl.co/YBGNy
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD🚨URGENT RESPONSE CALL. FLOOD THE ZONE 🚨 The House CJS Subcommittee IS CURRENTLY marking up the FY26 budget, incl. NSF. Since 1950, NSF has been advancing science, health, & more. Tell Chairman Rogers: Don’t gut 75 years of progress. We demand NO CUTS to NSF. & watch the livestream: zurl.co/zScND
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDNow a Jane Coffin Childs postdoc at Stanford, @scienceyael.bsky.social studies how infections like Epstein–Barr, COVID, & Lyme trigger long-term neurological disease. We talk science, survival, solidarity, & making academia accessible for those without a safety net. #LongCOVID #ChronicLyme 5/
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDAt 15, @scienceyael.bsky.social fled a violent fundamentalist household. She battled #eatingdisorders, self-harm, & poverty—working night shifts while teaching herself high school. She forged a transcript to escape, later confessed, earned a GED, & won a full scholarship to Kent State. 3/
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDIn Ep. 46 of A Chat with Uma, I talk to Dr. Ya’el Courtney @scienceyael.bsky.social—a neuroscientist whose life traverses extreme circumstances that most only read about. From surviving an abusive home to couch-surfing through high school, her path to neurosci. is nothing short of extraordinary. 2/
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD🎓 FROM FOSTER CARE TO HARVARD NEUROSCIENTIST: The Choice to Live, Maternal #Psychedelics, & Post-Viral Chronic Illnesses with Dr. Ya’el Courtney @scienceyael.bsky.social ☄️ Ep. 46 of A Chat with Uma is out everywhere now! Truly a MUST listen🌟👏🏾 🎙️Tune in here 👉🏾 creators.spotify.com/pod/show/uma... 1/
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD📣EVENT ALERT! Join us next Monday, July 7th at 6:30pm PT at Burke-Gilman Brewing Co. in Seattle, WA for a conversation on how science works with @carlbergstrom.com (UW Biology) and Kevin Gross (NCSU Statistics) - and you! Find the event here & register➡️ zurl.co/nEQAN @burkebrewing.bsky.social
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhD“More than 270 employees of the Environmental Protection Agency signed a letter on Mon denouncing the Trump administration’s efforts to politicize, dismantle and sideline the main federal agency tasked with protecting the environment and public health.” This is courage.🧪 @maxinejoselow.bsky.social
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDBabies are being born with measles in Alberta, having caught the illness in utero from unvaccinated mothers. The measles outbreak in Alberta is huge. Their case count is approaching 1,000. A baby born with measles in Ontario has already died. Please get your vaccines. This is all preventable.
- Reposted by Ya’el Courtney, PhDNew for @teenvogue.com: Republicans love to talk about how much they care about the American worker, but the Trump admin’s anti-worker, anti-regulatory, anti-science agenda is putting millions of workers in danger—and more of them are going to die because of it www.teenvogue.com/story/trump-...
