Sarina Rodrigues Saturn, PhD, was a faculty member at the University of Portland. She received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from New York University under the mentorship of Joseph LeDoux. Her dissertation focused on molecular, cellular, and behavioral studies of the amygdala, the key brain structure for emotional processing. She was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, under the guidance of Robert Sapolsky, where she investigated the role of stress hormones on the brain’s emotional circuitry. At the University of California, Berkeley, Saturn was a postdoctoral fellow in Dacher Keltner’s lab and here she began her attempts to bridge neuroscience and social psychology. Her research investigates the biology underlying positive emotions, and her goals are to illuminate the roots and development of social well-being.
Sarina Saturn (née Rodrigues) is an experienced neuroscientist, educator, parent, researcher, mentor, and community builder devoted to health equity, social justice, and belonging for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), 2SLGBTQIA+ (Trans and Queer), disabled, and other people from non-dominant identities who have been historically excluded from guiding decisions or norms that impact their well-being. Sarina is a Chamoru and Indian queer femme and prolific scholar-activist whose expertise centers on intersectional advocacy, antiracism, feminism, and the neuroscience and psychology underlying emotions, intergenerational trauma, compassion, coping, affirmation, healing, and post-traumatic growth.
Find out more about her work here.
