Our Team

Danielle Guez Barber, MD PhD is an Assistant Professor in Child Neurology at the University of Colorado and Children’s Hospital Colorado. Her basic research, clinical research, clinical work and advocacy all center around perinatal HIE (hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy). As an undergraduate, Danielle spent 2.5 years studying metabolism of cell membranes in Dick Wurtman’s lab at MIT. In her doctoral work, she developed the use of Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting for adult rat brains, and isolated the neuronal ensemble that encoded a drug-relevant learned behavior. She did her PhD lab work at the National Institute on Drug Abuse under Dr. Bruce Hope, partnering with Dr. Marina Picciotto’s lab at Yale. She earned her MD PhD from Yale in 2012. Danielle trained in Pediatrics and Child Neurology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, then completed post-doctoral training in the lab of Dr. Amelia Eisch at CHOP/Penn, where she launched her focus on perinatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. In 2024, Danielle moved to Colorado to open her laboratory, which leverages sex differences to understand the brain immune response to hypoxia-ischemia. She is leading the building of an HIE clinical and community registry, with a synergistic partnership between Hope for HIE and the Cerebral Palsy Research Network. She also serves on the Board of Directors and Medical Advisory Board of Hope for HIE. Danielle, her husband and their 3 kids love skiing, traveling, and live music.

I am a technician in Dr. Barber’s lab, originally from Haverford, Pennsylvania. I graduated from Middlebury College in 2024, with a B.S. in Neuroscience and Psychology, where I worked for 3 years in Dr. Clarissa Parker's neuroscience lab. I have always been curious about how the human body works, but the brain fascinates me the most with its diversity and adaptability. I am particularly interested in the plasticity of the brain and its ability to compensate for damage or malformations by reorganizing neural pathways. The brain's innate immune response plays an integral role in this reorganization, which has significantly peaked my curiosity in microglia research. I am grateful to have the opportunity to learn more about the developmental brain, considering I was a 3-month pre-mature baby myself, and hope I can play a role in the development of therapeutics for newborns with HIE. For fun, I like to play racket sports, play the violin, and ski!

I am an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Danielle Barber’s Lab. I moved back and forth between East and West Coast but mainly grew up in Philadelphia. I am currently a student at Princeton, majoring in History of Science and studying neuroscience. My research interests center on the potential for learning following injury, specifically why children with neurodevelopmental disorders might experience increased plasticity. I am especially fascinated by the molecular underpinnings of microglial dysfunction. I really enjoy the troubleshooting and problem-solving involved in techniques like tissue staining, behavioral assays, and computational modeling. Outside the lab, I love teaching ceramics, rock climbing outdoors, and exploring libraries and book stores in new cities!

I was a medical student researcher (SUMMR Program) when I worked for Danielle. I am from Lake Jackson, Texas and went to Texas A&M University for my undergraduate studies, where I a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science. I am currently in medical school at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). What fascinates me about neuroscience research is the opportunity to deepen my understanding of the human brain’s complexity and its ability to adapt to injury or disease. Specifically, Danielle’s research on HIE interests me as I have come to recognize the prevalence of HIE and the impact it can have, highlighting the need to understand the mechanisms behind brain injury in order to transform medical treatments and improve patient outcomes. Additionally, this work is personally meaningful to me as neurological disorders have affected people close to me, motivating my desire to contribute to advancing care in this field. In my free time I enjoy spending time with friends/family, staying active/working out, and being outdoors! 

I am a current senior at the University of Pennsylvania who has been working as an Undergraduate Researcher in the Barber Lab since March 2023. I am from Los Angeles, California and am graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry and Neurobiology this May. I am particularly interested in the Barber Lab’s focus on sex differences in brain injury outcomes. When it comes to most scientific research, the female side of things is often overlooked, so the Barber Lab provides a unique opportunity to understand the mechanistic underpinnings of sex-dependent HIE outcomes in neonates. In my spare time I compete for UPenn’s Varsity Volleyball team and enjoy cooking at home.