Katie Hsiao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s National Research Institute, with an academic appointment at George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine under the mentorship of Deanna Benson, where her work elucidated the role of dysregulated synaptic translation in CYFIP1 haploinsufficiency as a key genetic factor in autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Hsiao completed her postdoctoral training with Priya Rajasethupathy at Rockefeller University, where she made significant contributions to the characterization of thalamocortical circuits in working memory, funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). This work, published in Cell, identified novel GPCR signaling pathways that influence cognitive performance and goal-directed behavior.

Dr. Hsiao joined Children’s National Research Institute to establish her independent research program, where her lab focuses on the development of motor control circuits from neonate to adulthood and the effects of trisomy 21 on these pathways. Her work combines molecular genetics and systems neuroscience to investigate the role of neuronal plasticity in brain development, particularly in the context of Down syndrome. Currently, her research is supported by extramural funding from the NIH and private foundations. The long term goal of her laboratory is to advance the understanding and treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders through cross-disciplinary innovation and collaborative research