Laetitia Mwilambwe-Tshilobo

Laetitia Mwilambwe-Tshilobo's work focuses on the bidirectional interplay between loneliness and brain function, examining how loneliness shapes large-scale brain networks and how those networks, in turn, support people’s ability to connect.

Laetitia (leh-TEE-see-uh) Mwilambwe-Tshilobo is a joint postdoctoral researcher at the Communication Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania and the Princeton Social Neuroscience Lab at Princeton University. The overarching goal of her research program is to provide a mechanistic understanding of how loneliness affects brain function, and how the brain supports human sociality.

Prior to joining Annenberg her research focused on understanding how the experience of loneliness influences the functional organization of large-scale brain networks and how this organization differs across the adult lifespan. Currently, her research explores how the qualities of people’s social networks (e.g., closeness) influences the relationship between loneliness and brain function.

She received her B.A. in neuroscience from the College of Wooster, a M.Sc. in biology/neuroscience from the University of Hartford, a M.A. in developmental psychology from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from McGill University.