Olga Kokiko - Cochran, Secretary (2022-2023) 

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience

Affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Chronic Brain Injury Program, Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, The Ohio State University

Research focus: Inflammation following TBI; stress response and sleep patterns

Past roles with NNS: Membership Committee 2015-present; Councilor 2019-2022; Secretary 2022-2023

Who or what inspires you: My kids inspire me every day. In fact, my kids are the reason that I got interested in the effects of stress and sleep disruption lol! They really do keep me grounded though and remind me that life is busy and complicated. Most people are managing multiple responsibilities and that can be stressful. It’s no different for TBI or SCI survivors. Although I am a basic scientist by training, I try to stay focused on research topics that will translate to clinical populations. If I can do one thing that helps TBI survivors, then that’s a success. Maybe that means simply raising awareness about the potential impact of stress and other life experiences during chronic recovery.

Your goal(s) for this term: My primary goal as Secretary is to support the membership. To do that, I encourage all members to get involved with the Society. Our committees have expanded and include both standard and student members. This is a great way to learn about the Society and contribute to its future growth. It’s also great for networking and building relationships with other people in the neurotrauma field. I am thrilled to see an expansion in membership benefits. I think this will help to attract new members and retain existing members. We have a lot of room for growth though. I’d love for each standard member to invite one collaborator to the annual Symposium. With that approach, there should be an increase in the amount of cross disciplinary research discussed and presented.