Zhenghan Qi is a cognitive neuroscientist dedicated to understand the mechanisms of language dysfunction in various neurodevelopmental disorders and to apply her research to the development of therapeutic intervention. After receiving her MD from Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Zhenghan pursued her PhD in Neuroscience from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, focusing on the cognitive neuroscience of typical language learning. She then joined MIT as a postdoctoral associate at McGovern Institute for Brain Research, working with John D. E. Gabrieli. Zhenghan uses a variety of behavioral (eye-tracking) and neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, MEG, EEG, and DTI) to study the relationship between language learning, cognitive skills, and brain development in both children and adults. Her research has been centered on the neural architecture of language acquisition across the life span: how that organization changes from childhood through adulthood, how it is disrupted in major neurodevelopmental disorders of language (autism spectrum disorder (ASD), dyslexia, specific language impairment, and schizophrenia), and how knowledge of that organization may enhance second language learning in adulthood. Zhenghan’s project on language learning in autism has recently been funded by NARSAD Young Investigator Grant.
