Welcome

안녕하세요, I’m Minwoo. I’m a biological anthropologist and neuroscientist fascinated by why humans care for one another and how caring for others shapes our brains, health, relationships, and communities. Using neuroimaging, behavioral, and computational approaches, I study the mechanisms that support human caregiving and prosocial behavior, and how these processes unfold across adulthood and aging. 

My current research at the Clinical Aging and Relational Emotion Science (CARES) Lab at Georgetown University (PI: Dr. Casey K. Brown) examines how providing social support and engaging in prosocial behavior may influence brain health, cognitive and emotional functioning, and biological aging. I am also an NIH T32 Postdoctoral Fellow in Georgetown’s Aging & Alzheimer’s Research Training (AART) Program, where I am expanding this work at the intersection of social neuroscience, healthy aging, and prevention science. 

More broadly,  my research asks how insights from behavioral and cognitive science can be leveraged to promote durable cycles of prosociality, social environments in which caring for others becomes less personally costly, more rewarding, and ultimately more sustainable for both caregivers and care recipients. 

I also teach and mentor in social neuroscience and biological anthropology. My teaching emphasizes cross-disciplinary thinking, whether introducing students to the fundamentals of the field, guiding their first neuroimaging analysis, or helping them develop an idea into an independent and publishable study. 

Thank you for visiting me. Let’s connect!