Carolyn Sweeney, PhD

Carolyn Sweeney, PhD, is an Investigator in the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories at Mass Eye and Ear and an Instructor in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on how superficial auditory cortical networks integrate top-down and neuromodulatory signals to drive sensory plasticity and learning. By combining molecular, anatomical, and in vivo optical imaging approaches, her work aims to define how cortical circuits are dynamically regulated in the brain.

Dr. Sweeney earned her PhD at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where she studied neuromodulator-transporter trafficking mechanisms and their role in anxiety-related behaviors. She completed her postdoctoral training under the mentorship of Anne Takesian, PhD, at Mass Eye and Ear, where she used optical and anatomical strategies to investigate how state-dependent signals shape the responses of superficial auditory cortical neurons to sound.