Research
Ketamine for treatment resistant depression
Ketamine produces a rapid antidepressant response in over 50% of adults with treatment-resistant depression but benefits usually fade within a week. We explored a prolonged ketamine infusion. We found that a 96-hr infusion produces marked reduction in depression that persisted for months. Additionally, pathological hyperconnectivity in areas critical to mood and emotion (limbic system, subgenual cingulate, DMN) were reversed for weeks after infusion.
neurobiological mechanisms of Psilocybin
In recent years, studies using psychedelics to treat a range of psychiatric conditions have shown astounding results. This has led to a resurgence of interest in these drugs. Psilocybin has been granted breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA. My research, with Dr. Ginger Nicol and the Healthy Minds Lab, explores the neurobiological adaptations associated with therapeutic effects of this fascinating class of drugs.
Improving functional brain imaging methods
understanding stroke in the connected human brain
My PhD research focused on using MRI to characterize the effects of stroke on distributed brain systems. We followed a large cohort (N=132) over a year after stroke, collecting structural and functional imaging and assessing deficit and recovery across a broad range of behavioral domain. This dataset taught us that some abilities are localized in the brain (vision, movement) while others are more dependent on broadly distributed network function (memory, language, attention).