Ashley Nicole Parks, Ph.D.

Teaching

I teach cadaveric anatomy and clinical neuroscience for medical students. Currently, I serve as an instructor for several courses, including: Gross Anatomy and Embryology for matriculated medical students, Medical Neuroscience for medical students, Health Professions Gross Anatomy for physical therapy students, and Clinical Gross Anatomy for physician assistant students. Previously, I spent several years as a research instructor of gross anatomy and comparative neuroanatomy at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, where I taught cadaveric anatomy courses for medical, PT, and PA courses. I have also taught various undergraduate anatomy and neuroscience courses.

Research

I specialize in comparative neuroanatomy, the anatomy and evolution of the mammalian cortico-cerebellar system, and the use of innovative neuroimaging techniques to map cortical and subcortical networks.

Selected Publications

2024. Avelino-de-Souza K, Mynssen H, Chaim K, Parks AN, Flach L, Andrade-Cunha H, Mota B, and Patzke N. Anatomical and Volumetric Description of the Guiana Dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) Brain from an Ultra-High-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Brain Behavior Function.

2024. Parks AN, Bryant KL, Rankin EK, Smaers JB, Hecht EE. Segmentation and morphometric MRI atlas of the chimpanzee cerebellum. ​Brain Structure and Function Special Issue: Towards Multi-modal, multi-species brain atlases.

2018. Parks AN, Smaers JB. The evolution of the frontal lobes in primates. In: Digital Endocasts (from skulls to brains). Edited by E. Bruner. Springer, pp. 205-218.

2017. Smaers JB, Gomez-Robles A, Parks AN, Sherwood CC. Exceptional evolutionary expansion of the prefrontal cortex in great apes and humans. Current Biology. 27: 714-720.