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Sunday Francis, Ph.D.

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About Me
Credentials
Publications

About Me

Dr. Sunday M. Francis completed her Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience from University of Chicago exploring the impact of sensorimotor learning and motor skill acquisition on the motor network. During her post-doctoral training at the University of Minnesota (UMN), she researched autism spectrum disorder (ASD) utilizing molecular techniques, eye-tracking, imaging, and other methods to investigate brain connectivity and the underlying neural mechanisms of this condition. Through additional collaborations at UMN in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurorehabilitation, Dr. Francis developed pediatric non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) skills. As a Research Fellow at the NIMH, she utilized NIBS techniques to further understand neurodevelopmental disorders and the potential use of this tool in the development of treatments that target transdiagnostic symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Francis was awarded the NIH Center on Compulsive Behaviors (CCB) Fellowship and was the 2023 recipient of the NIMH Dr. Seymour S. Kety Memorial Fellowship.

Faculty Appointments

Assistant Professor - Department of Neuroscience (SMD)

Credentials

Education

PhD | University of Chicago. Neuroscience. 2009

ScB | Brown University. Neuroscience. 1998

Publications

Journal Articles

Integrating causal discovery and clinically-relevant insights to explore directional relationships between autistic features, sex at birth, and cognitive abilities - ERRATUM.

Tseng A, Francis SM, Rawls E, Conelea C, Grissom NM, Kummerfeld E, Ma S, Jacob S

Psychological medicine.. 2025 May 2955 :e161. Epub 05/29/2025.

Integrating causal discovery and clinically-relevant insights to explore directional relationships between autistic features, sex at birth, and cognitive abilities.

Tseng A, Francis SM, Rawls E, Conelea C, Grissom NM, Kummerfeld E, Ma S, Jacob S

Psychological medicine.. 2025 March 1855 :e89. Epub 03/18/2025.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation to probe the role of the supplementary motor area in tics.

Conelea CA, Wellen BCM, Francis SM, Mueller BA, Jacob S, Lim K, Greenberg BD

Frontiers in human neuroscience.. 2025 19 :1720968. Epub 12/04/2025.

The use of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques in autism spectrum disorder.

Oberman LM, Francis SM, Lisanby SH

Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research.. 2024 January 17 (1):17-26. Epub 10/23/2023.

Design and methodology for a proof of mechanism study of individualized neuronavigated continuous Theta burst stimulation for auditory processing in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

Oberman LM, Francis SM, Beynel L, Hynd M, Jaime M, Robins PL, Deng ZD, Stout J, van der Veen JW, Lisanby SH

Frontiers in psychiatry.. 2024 15 :1304528. Epub 02/08/2024.

Heterogeneity and convergence across seven neuroimaging modalities: a review of the autism spectrum disorder literature.

Halliday AR, Vucic SN, Georges B, LaRoche M, Mendoza Pardo MA, Swiggard LO, McDonald K, Olofsson M, Menon SN, Francis SM, Oberman LM, White T, van der Velpen IF

Frontiers in psychiatry.. 2024 15 :1474003. Epub 10/16/2024.

Safety and feasibility of transcranial direct current stimulation stratified by corticospinal organization in children with hemiparesis.

Nemanich ST, Lench DH, Sutter EN, Kowalski JL, Francis SM, Meekins GD, Krach LE, Feyma T, Gillick BT

European journal of paediatric neurology : EJPN : official journal of the European Paediatric Neurology Society.. 2023 March 43 :27-35. Epub 02/28/2023.

Utility of Downstream Biomarkers to Assess and Optimize Intranasal Delivery of Oxytocin.

DuBois M, Tseng A, Francis SM, Haynos AF, Peterson CB, Jacob S

Pharmaceutics.. 2022 May 3114 (6)Epub 05/31/2022.

Differential extrinsic brain network connectivity and social cognitive task-specific demands in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Tseng A, Camchong J, Francis SM, Mueller BA, Lim KO, Conelea CA, Jacob S

Journal of psychiatric research.. 2022 April 148 :230-239. Epub 02/01/2022.

Disrupted Access to Therapies and Impact on Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic for Children With Motor Impairment and Their Caregivers.

Sutter EN, Francis LS, Francis SM, Lench DH, Nemanich ST, Krach LE, Sukal-Moulton T, Gillick BT

American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation. 2021 September 1100 (9):821-830. Epub 1900 01 01.

Social Cognitive Interventions for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review.

Tseng A, Biagianti B, Francis SM, Conelea CA, Jacob S

Journal of affective disorders.. 2020 September 1274 :199-204. Epub 05/25/2020.

Predicting Core Characteristics of ASD Through Facial Emotion Recognition and Eye Tracking in Youth.

Jiang M, Francis SM, Tseng A, Srishyla D, DuBois M, Beard K, Conelea C, Zhao Q, Jacob S

Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.. 2020 July 2020 :871-875. Epub 1900 01 01.

Transcranial direct current stimulation for compulsivity in adolescent fraternal twins with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Francis SM, Beard KL, Tseng A, Chen M, Gillick BT, Jacob S, Conelea CA

Brain stimulation.. 2020 13 (4):1153-1155. Epub 05/12/2020.

Classifying Individuals with ASD Through Facial Emotion Recognition and Eye-Tracking.

Jiang M, Francis SM, Srishyla D, Conelea C, Zhao Q, Jacob S

Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.. 2019 July 2019 :6063-6068. Epub 1900 01 01.

Hypoconnectivity of insular resting-state networks in adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Francis SM, Camchong J, Brickman L, Goelkel-Garcia L, Mueller BA, Tseng A, Lim KO, Jacob S

Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging.. 2019 January 30283 :104-112. Epub 12/07/2018.

Urinary and plasma oxytocin changes in response to MDMA or intranasal oxytocin administration.

Francis SM, Kirkpatrick MG, de Wit H, Jacob S

Psychoneuroendocrinology.. 2016 December 74 :92-100. Epub 08/16/2016.

Variants in Adjacent Oxytocin/Vasopressin Gene Region and Associations with ASD Diagnosis and Other Autism Related Endophenotypes.

Francis SM, Kistner-Griffin E, Yan Z, Guter S, Cook EH, Jacob S

Frontiers in neuroscience.. 2016 10 :195. Epub 05/12/2016.

ASD and Genetic Associations with Receptors for Oxytocin and Vasopressin-, and .

Francis SM, Kim SJ, Kistner-Griffin E, Guter S, Cook EH, Jacob S

Frontiers in neuroscience.. 2016 10 :516. Epub 11/22/2016.

Oxytocin and vasopressin systems in genetic syndromes and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Francis SM, Sagar A, Levin-Decanini T, Liu W, Carter CS, Jacob S

Brain research.. 2014 September 111580 :199-218. Epub 01/22/2014.

Plasma oxytocin concentrations following MDMA or intranasal oxytocin in humans.

Kirkpatrick MG, Francis SM, Lee R, de Wit H, Jacob S

Psychoneuroendocrinology.. 2014 August 46 :23-31. Epub 04/19/2014.

A deletion involving CD38 and BST1 results in a fusion transcript in a patient with autism and asthma.

Ceroni F, Sagar A, Simpson NH, Gawthrope AJ, Newbury DF, Pinto D, Francis SM, Tessman DC, Cook EH, Monaco AP, Maestrini E, Pagnamenta AT, Jacob S

Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research.. 2014 April 7 (2):254-63. Epub 03/13/2014.

Parental broader autism subphenotypes in ASD affected families: relationship to gender, child's symptoms, SSRI treatment, and platelet serotonin.

Levin-Decanini T, Maltman N, Francis SM, Guter S, Anderson GM, Cook E, Jacob S

Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research.. 2013 December 6 (6):621-30. Epub 08/16/2013.

Rare inherited A2BP1 deletion in a proband with autism and developmental hemiparesis.

Davis LK, Maltman N, Mosconi MW, Macmillan C, Schmitt L, Moore K, Francis SM, Jacob S, Sweeney JA, Cook EH

American journal of medical genetics. Part A.. 2012 July 158A (7):1654-61. Epub 06/07/2012.