Dr. Prakash is an ASC Distinguished Professor of Psychology at The Ohio State University, where she also serves as the Director of the Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging. Her research focuses on evaluating mind-body interventions to improve cognitive and emotional health in older adults and those with neurological conditions, using neuroimaging and neuropsychological methods. She has published 91 peer-reviewed articles in prestigious journals like Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Psychology and Aging, and NeuroImage. Her achievements have been recognized with several awards: the “Rising Star Designation” from the Association for Psychological Science in 2013, the Springer Early Career Achievement in Research on Adult Development and Aging from the American Psychological Association in 2016, and the Diversity and Inclusivity Champion Award from the Organization for Human Brain Mapping in 2023. Her work is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. 

Awards

2023: Diversity & Inclusivity Champion Award, Organization for Human Brain Mapping
2023: Distinguished Professor of College of Arts & Sciences, Ohio State University
2023: Leonard Diller Distinguished Lecture Award, Rehabilitation Psychology Conference
2022: Elected Fellow of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research
2017: Best Platform Presentation, Annual Meeting of the Consortium of MS Centers
2016: Springer Early Career Achievement in Research on Adult Development and Aging Award, American Psychological Association
2015: Distinguished Teaching Award, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University
2013: “Rising Star” Designation, Association for Psychological Science
2011: Citation Award, Society for Behavioral Medicine
2009: Whitaker Abstract Track Presenter at Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers Meeting
2009: Ed Scheiderer Memorial Award for Outstanding Research by a Clinical/Community Psychology Graduate Student
2008: Imaging Fellowship, University of California at Los Angeles
2006: Beckman Institute Graduate Fellowship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2004: Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience Fellowship, Dartmouth College

Representative Publications 

(⁺ mentored postdoctoral scholar, * indicates mentored graduate student; ** indicates mentored undergraduate student/research assistant): 

Shankar, A.*, Tanner, J., Mao, I.**, Betzel, R., & Prakash, R.S. (in press). Edge-community Entropy as a Novel Neural Correlate of Aging and Moderator of Fluid Cognition. Journal of Neuroscience.  

Phansikar, M. +, Duraney, E.*, Manglani, H.*, Shankar, A.*, Roberts, C.**, Andridge, R., Nicholas, J.A., Petosa, R., Prakash, R.S. (in press).  TRACking Health Behavior in People with Multiple Sclerosis (TRAC-MS): Effects on physical activity, water intake, and working memory. Rehabilitation Psychology 

Prakash, R.S., Fountain-Zaragoza, S.*, Fisher, M.*, Gbadeyan, O. +, Andridge, A., Kiecolt-Glaser, J., Manglani, H.R.*, Duraney, E.J.*, Shankar, A.*, Mckenna, M.R.*, Teng, J.*, Phansikar, M. +, & Canter, R.** (2022). Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to Improve Attentional Control in Older Adults (HealthyAgers Trial). BMC Geriatric, 22:666. 

Gbadeyan, O. +, Teng, J. *, & Prakash, R.S. (2022). Predicting response-time variability from task and resting-state functional connectivity in the aging brain. NeuroImage, 250. 

Prakash, R.S., Fountain-Zaragoza, S.*, Kramer, A.F., Samimy, S.*, & Wegman, C. ** (2020). Mindfulness and attention: Current state-of-affairs and future directions. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 4(3), 340-367.  

Fountain-Zaragoza, S.*, Samimy, S.*, Rosenberg, M., & Prakash, R.S. (2019). Connectome-Based Models Predict Attentional Control in Aging Adults. NeuroImage. 186, 1-13.