I received an MD from Istanbul University School of Medicine in 1986 and a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1996. After my postdoctoral training at NYU Center for Neural Science and New York Medical School, Department of Physiology, I moved to the University of Virginia as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology in 2000. I became a tenured Associate Professor in 2007 and Professor in 2013. I served as the director of undergraduate studies for the Cognitive Science (2008-2011) and the Neuroscience (2012-2015) programs, and as the Chairperson of my department (2016-2022).

My lab is equipped as a systems neuroanatomy, electron microscopy, quantitative morphology, and connectomics facility. The courses I teach at the undergraduate and the graduate level include Neural Mechanisms of Behavior (PSYC 4200); Psychobiology Lab (PSYC3210); Forum on Professional Conduct and Scientific Ethics (PSYC8040); Neural Mechanisms (PSYC7200); Neuropsychopharmacology (PSYC5285); Functional Neuroanatomy (PSYC5200); and Fundamentals of Neuroscience (PSYC 3200).