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MSTP students in the Sahoo lab
Medical Scientist Training Program
Joseph Hennessey

Joseph Hennessey

G1 Student

Faculty Advisor

  • John Mantsch, PhD and John McCorvy, PhD, Pharmacology & Toxicology

Locations

  • Medical Scientist Training Program

Contact Information

Education

BS, Biomedical Sciences and Philosophy, Marquette University, 2022

Research Interests

Uncovering the pharmacological and systems mechanisms through which psychedelics promote cognitive flexibility following chronic stress and how morphological changes in dendritic spines may represent a neural substrate by which this occurs.

Research Experience

Medical College of Wisconsin, 2025-Present
Advisors: John Mantsch, PhD and John McCorvy, PhD
Project: Investigation of psilocybin-mediated long-term rescue of cognitive flexibility following chronic stress

Medical College of Wisconsin, 2022-2023
Advisor: John McCorvy
Project: Characterization of biased agonism of psychedelics at aminergic GPCRs

Marquette University, 2021-2022
Advisor: Alex Savtchouk, PhD
Project: Anatomical tracing of cerebello-thalamo-cortical circuitry

Marquette University, 2019-2020
Advisor: John Mantsch, PhD
Project: Neuropsychopharmacology of stress contributions to cocaine seeking

Publications

Aarrestad IK, Cameron LP, Fenton EM, et al, Olson DE (Hennessey JJ, 28th author of 40). The psychoplastogen tabernanthalog induces neuroplasticity without proximate immediate early gene activation. Nature Neuroscience.

Wallach J, Cao AB, Calkins MM, Heim AJ, Lanham JK, Bonniwell EM, Hennessey JJ, Bock HA, Anderson EI, Sherwood AM, Morris H, de Klein R, Klein AK, Cuccurazzu B, Gamrat J, Fannana T, Zauhar R, Halberstadt AL, McCorvy JD. Identification of 5-HT2A receptor signaling pathways associated with psychedelic potential. Nat Commun. 2023 Dec 15;14(1):8221. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-44016-1. PMID: 38102107; PMCID: PMC10724237.

Vargas MV, Dunlap LE, Dong C, Carter SJ, Tombari RJ, Jami SA, Cameron LP, Patel SD, Hennessey JJ, Saeger HN, McCorvy JD, Gray JA, Tian L, Olson DE. Psychedelics promote neuroplasticity through the activation of intracellular 5-HT2A receptors. Science. 2023 Feb 17;379(6633):700-706. doi: 10.1126/science.adf0435. Epub 2023 Feb 16. PMID: 36795823; PMCID: PMC10108900. 

General Interests

Cycling, hiking, indoor rock climbing (top rope and bouldering), exploring cities, philosophy, meditation

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