Presenters

2024 Presenters

Olu Ajilore, MD, PhD

Address:
Associate Head for Faculty Development
University of Illinois Center for Depression and Resilience (UI CDR) Professor of Psychiatry
Director, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program
Director, Clinical Research Core/Center for Clinical and Translational Science
Director, Adult Neuroscience Residency Research Track
Co-Director, UICOM Medical Scientist Training Program
Department of Psychiatry
University of Illinois-Chicago


“Network Psychiatry: Connecting the Dots Between Mood and Cognition”

Network perspectives on brain function have revolutionized the way we conceptualize psychiatric disorders. This talk will present data on using multimodal neuroimaging techniques to understand how brain network alternations connect mood and cognition, how these network abnormalities respond to treatment, and how novel treatments may be designed to target network dysfunction. We will expand the notion of the “network” to include novel ways to assess mood and cognition using passive sensing with smartphones.


Dr. Ajilore is the Center for Depression and Resilience Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in biology. Dr. Ajilore did his MD/PhD degree at Stanford University where he studied the negative effects of stress hormones on the brain. His lab currently uses computational neuroimaging techniques and digital biomarkers to better track and treat neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Ajilore is also serves as the Associate Head for Faculty Development, the director the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program and as a member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council for NIMH.


Reading List

Kannampallil, T., Ajilore, O. A., Lv, N., Smyth, J. M., Wittels, N. E., Ronneberg, C. R., Kumar, V., Xiao, L., Dosala, S., Barve, A., Zhang, A., Tan, K. C., Cao, K. P., Patel, C. R., Gerber, B. S., Johnson, J. A., Kringle, E. A., & Ma, J. (2023b).Effects of a virtual voice-based coach delivering problem-solving treatment on emotional distress and brain function: A pilot RCT in Depression and anxiety. Translational Psychiatry, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02462-x

McAleer, J., Stewart, L., Shepard, R., Sheena, M., Stange, J. P., Leow, A., Klumpp, H., & Ajilore, O. (2023). Neuromodulatory effects of transcranial electrical stimulation on emotion regulation in internalizing psychopathologies. Clinical Neurophysiology, 145, 62–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2022.10.015

Thomas, P. J., Leow, A., Klumpp, H., Phan, K. L., & Ajilore, O. (2021). Network diffusion embedding reveals Transdiagnostic subnetwork disruption and potential treatment targets in internalizing psychopathologies. Cerebral Cortex, 32(9), 1823–1839. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab314

Xing, M., Lee, H., Morrissey, Z., Chung, M. K., Phan, K. L., Klumpp, H., Leow, A., & Ajilore, O. (2019). Altered dynamic electroencephalography connectome phase-space features of emotion regulation in social anxiety. NeuroImage, 186, 338–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.10.073

Zulueta, J., Piscitello, A., Rasic, M., Easter, R., Babu, P., Langenecker, S. A., McInnis, M., Ajilore, O., Nelson, P. C., Ryan, K., & Leow, A. (2018). Predicting mood disturbance severity with mobile phone keystroke metadata: A BIAFFECT Digital Phenotyping Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(7). https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.9775

Raquel E. Gur, MD, PhD

Address:
The Karl and Linda Rickels Professor
Director, Neurodevelopment and Psychosis Section
Department of Psychiatry
Professor Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology & Radiology
Sr. Vice Chair for Research and Penn-CHOP Research Integration
Co-Director, Penn Translational Neuroscience Center
Director, Lifespan Brain Institute,
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine


“Approaches to understanding G X E interactions related to brain – behavior development and psychopathology”

The presentation will summarize current efforts that examine neurodevelopmental disorders with associated psychopathology, applying common and rare variants approaches. There are multiple challenges in integrating genomics, neurobiology and environmental factors that impact mental health outcome. Recognizing the complexity and potential steps towards multi-faceted studies of cognitive and socioemotional development will be illustrated. The presentation will include findings from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, other genomic consortia and work on copy number variants that confer increase risk for mental illness.


Dr. Raquel Gur is the Karl and Linda Rickels Professor of Psychiatry and leads the Neurodevelopment & Psychosis Section. She is Senior Vice Chair for Research and Penn-CHOP Research Integration, Co-Director of the Penn Translational Neuroscience Center and, Director of the Lifespan Brain Institute at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She holds secondary professorial appointments in the Departments of Neurology and Radiology.
Her combined training in Psychology, Neurology and Psychiatry has provided the tools to pursue an academic career working with basic and clinical neuroscientists to advance the understanding of psychosis and neurodevelopmental disorders. In directing these research endeavors, she has interacted with scientists of diverse backgrounds, conducted collaborative interdisciplinary research, mentored junior faculty and trainees, and has come to know many patients and their families.
She is a member and has served in multiple organizations including the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the NIMH Council and the American Psychiatric Association task forces including the DSM-5 Psychosis work group. She is Past President of both the Society of Biological Psychiatry and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. NIMH has supported her research efforts and she has over 600 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Reading List

Alexander-Bloch, A., Huguet, G., Schultz, L. M., Huffnagle, N., Jacquemont, S., Seidlitz, J., Saci, Z., Moore, T. M., Bethlehem, R. A., Mollon, J., Knowles, E. K., Raznahan, A., Merikangas, A., Chaiyachati, B. H., Raman, H., Schmitt, J. E., Barzilay, R., Calkins, M. E., Shinohara, R. T., … Glessner, J. (2022). Copy number variant risk scores associated with cognition, psychopathology, and brain structure in youths in the Philadelphia neurodevelopmental cohort. JAMA Psychiatry, 79(7), 699. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.1017

Gur, R E, Yi, J. J., McDonald-McGinn, D. M., Tang, S. X., Calkins, M. E., Whinna, D., Souders, M. C., Savitt, A., Zackai, E. H., Moberg, P. J., Emanuel, B. S., & Gur, R. C. (2014). Neurocognitive development in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: Comparison with youth having developmental delay and medical comorbidities. Molecular Psychiatry, 19(11), 1205–1211. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2013.189

Gur, R. C., Butler, E. R., Moore, T. M., Rosen, A. F., Ruparel, K., Satterthwaite, T. D., Roalf, D. R., Gennatas, E. D., Bilker, W. B., Shinohara, R. T., Port, A., Elliott, M. A., Verma, R., Davatzikos, C., Wolf, D. H., Detre, J. A., & Gur, R. E. (2020). Structural and functional brain parameters related to cognitive performance across development: Replication and extension of the Parieto-frontal integration theory in a single sample. Cerebral Cortex, 31(3), 1444–1463. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaa282

Gur, Raquel E., Loughead, J., Kohler, C. G., Elliott, M. A., Lesko, K., Ruparel, K., Wolf, D. H., Bilker, W. B., & Gur, R. C. (2007). Limbic activation associated with misidentification of fearful faces and flat affect in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64(12), 1356. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.64.12.1356

Gur, Raquel E., Moore, T. M., Rosen, A. F., Barzilay, R., Roalf, D. R., Calkins, M. E., Ruparel, K., Scott, J. C., Almasy, L., Satterthwaite, T. D., Shinohara, R. T., & Gur, R. C. (2019). Burden of environmental adversity associated with psychopathology, maturation, and brain behavior parameters in youths.oi_190027 JAMA Psychiatry, 76(9), 966. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.0943

Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, PhD

Address:
Professor in Neurology,
Harvard Medical School

Medical Director, Deanna and Sidney Wolk Center for Memory Health
Senior Scientist, Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research
Hebrew SeniorLife


Talk details TBA 


Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, a Senior Scientist at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research and Medical Director of the Deanna and Sidney Wolk Center for Memory Health at Hebrew SeniorLife (HSL). Dr. Pascual–Leone is an international leader in the study and modulation of human cortical plasticity and a pioneer in the use of noninvasive brain stimulation and its application for the study of brain behavior relations and the development of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions in neuropsychiatry. An overarching goal has been the development of translational approaches to characterize and modulate brain activity to help patients with debilitating neuropsychiatric disorders while gaining fundamental insights into human brain function. A major focus of Dr. Pascual-Leone’s research is on maintenance of brain health across the lifespan. Dr. Pascual-Leone brought together a group of international investigators and funding partners to establish the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative (www.bbhi.cat) – a multiyear, longitudinal effort supported by La Caixa and Institut Guttmann, that aims at identifying markers of brain health across the lifespan and developing and testing multimodal interventions and lifestyle changes that sustain brain health and prevent age-related cognitive decline. Dr. Pascual-Leone leads this one-of-a-kind study as its scientific director.

Dr. Pascual-Leone established and directs the Sidney Baer Jr. Fellowship in Clinical Neurosciences, training the future leaders of medical brain sciences, working in the interface of neurology and psychiatry. He also established and directs a training program in noninvasive brain stimulation that has trained over 1,000 clinicians from around the world. Dr. Pascual-Leone has authored over 750 scientific papers and several books and is listed as an inventor on several patents. His work is highly regarded for its innovation and quality and is highly cited (h-index 165; i10-index 626). Dr. Pascual-Leone has been recognized by Thomson Reuters as a one of the world’s top 15 neuroscientists, and one of the “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds”. He has been honored with many international awards, and is an elected member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Science (Pharmacy). His work has also gained wide general public appeal and outreach through dissemination in the lay press, television and radio, and several books (e.g. Norman Doidge’s The Brain That Changes Itself; and John E. Robison’s Switched On). Most recently Dr. Pascual-Leone co-authored, with A. Fernandez and D. Bartres-Faz, El Cerebro que Cura (2019).


Reading List

Benussi, A., Cantoni, V., Grassi, M., Brechet, L., Michel, C. M., Datta, A., Thomas, C., Gazzina, S., Cotelli, M. S., Bianchi, M., Premi, E., Gadola, Y., Cotelli, M., Pengo, M., Perrone, F., Scolaro, M., Archetti, S., Solje, E., Padovani, A., … Borroni, B. (2022). Increasing brain gamma activity improves episodic memory and restores cholinergic dysfunction in alzheimer’s disease. Annals of Neurology, 92(2), 322–334. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.26411

Fox, M. D., Buckner, R. L., Liu, H., Chakravarty, M. M., Lozano, A. M., & Pascual-Leone, A. (2014). Resting-state networks link invasive and noninvasive brain stimulation across diverse psychiatric and neurological diseases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(41). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1405003111

Ozdemir, R. A., Tadayon, E., Boucher, P., Momi, D., Karakhanyan, K. A., Fox, M. D., Halko, M. A., Pascual-Leone, A., Shafi, M. M., & Santarnecchi, E. (2020). Individualized perturbation of the human connectome reveals reproducible biomarkers of network dynamics relevant to cognition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(14), 8115–8125. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1911240117

Pascual-Leone, A., Rubio, B., Pallardó, F., & Catalá, M. D. (1996). Rapid-rate transcranial magnetic stimulation of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in drug-resistant depression. The Lancet, 348(9022), 233–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(96)01219-6

Violante, I. R., Alania, K., Cassarà, A. M., Neufeld, E., Acerbo, E., Carron, R., Williamson, A., Kurtin, D. L., Rhodes, E., Hampshire, A., Kuster, N., Boyden, E. S., Pascual-Leone, A., & Grossman, N. (2023b). Non-invasive temporal interference electrical stimulation of the human hippocampus. Nature Neuroscience, 26(11), 1994–2004. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-023-01456-8

Kerry Ressler, MD, PhD

Address:
Chief Scientific Officer
James and Patricia Poitras Chair in Psychiatry
Chief, Division of Depression & Anxiety Disorders
McLean Hospital
Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School


“PTSD & Fear: From Neurobiology to Future Prevention and Treatment”

 

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) manifests after exposure to a traumatic event and is characterized by avoidance/numbing, intrusive symptoms and flashbacks, mood and cognitive disruptions, and hyperarousal/reactivity symptoms. These symptoms reflect dysregulation of the fear system likely caused by poor fear inhibition/extinction, increased generalization, and/or enhanced consolidation or acquisition of fear. These phenotypes can be modeled in animal subjects using Pavlovian fear conditioning, allowing investigation of the underlying neurobiology of normative and pathological fear. Preclinical studies reveal a number of cell-types, systems and circuits critical for aversive learning and memory that have informed the development of therapies used in human clinical trials. In this talk, I will discuss recent evidence for genetic, neurobiological, and neural circuit mechanisms to understanding PTSD.  Finally, I’ll discuss neurobiology-driven future approaches to treatments and interventions that have been developed via a bench to bedside translational models.


Kerry J. Ressler, MD, PhD, is the Chief Scientific Officer at McLean Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.  He is an international leader in understanding the biology of posttraumatic stress disorder and amygdala function.  He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, a prior HHMI Investigator, Past-president of the Society for Biological Psychiatry and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.  He is author of >500 manuscripts focused on the molecular neuroscience of fear as well as the human psychobiology of stress and trauma through leadership of multiple national consortia for deep phenotyping and understanding biomarkers and the genetic architecture of PTSD.


Reading List 

Tor Wager, PhD

Address:
Diana L. Taylor Distinguished Professor
Presidential Cluster in Neuroscience and
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Dartmouth College


“A New Look at Self-Regulation”

One of humans’ most important capacities is self-regulation, the ability to use goals and contextual knowledge to influence our feelings, decisions, and sometimes perception and physiology. Early neuroimaging studies suggest that goal-directed regulation of pain and emotion can have substantial impacts on the brain generators of negative affect, particularly the amgydala. However, these studies have been small and subject to potential selection and analytic biases. It remains unclear to what degree humans can regulate responses in core affective brain systems, and what psychological and behavioral ingredients lead to their effective regulation. This talk takes a new look at self-regulation of negative emotion and pain through the lens of comparative effects across over 30 fMRI studies of self regulation and  new large-scale fMRI studies (N = 350 on emotion regulation, N = 400 twins on pain regulation) that test established affective neuromarkers.The findings point to different mechanisms from those suspected in the literature, and a need to revise current theories of how self-regulation influences the neural underpinnings of emotion and pain.


Tor Wager is the Diana L. Taylor Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience at Dartmouth College, and the Director of Dartmouth’s Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience laboratory, the Dartmouth Brain Imaging Center, and the Dartmouth Center for Cognitive Neuroscience.  Professor Wager’s research centers on the neurophysiology of affective processes—pain, emotion, stress, and empathy—and how they are shaped by cognitive and social influences. One focus area is the impact of thoughts and beliefs on learning, brain function, and brain-body communication. Another focus is the development of brain biomarkers that track and predict affective experience, including pain and other clinical symptoms. A third focus is on statistical, machine learning, and computational techniques that provide a foundation for new models of the affective brain. Professor Wager’s laboratory conducts basic research in these focus areas and applies the resulting techniques and models  to collaborative, translational research on clinical disorders and interventions. In support of these goals, Professor Wager and his group have developed several publicly available software toolboxes (see canlab.github.io). He also teaches courses and workshops on fMRI analysis and has co-authored a book, Principles of fMRI.   More information about Dr. Wager and his lab’s activities, publications, and software can be found at canlab.science 


Reading List

Ashar, Y. K., Andrews-Hanna, J. R., Halifax, J., Dimidjian, S., & Wager, T. D. (2021). Erratum to: Effects of compassion training on brain responses to suffering others. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 16(10), 1111–1111. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsab068

Čeko, M., Kragel, P. A., Woo, C.-W., López-Solà, M., & Wager, T. D. (2022). Common and stimulus-type-specific brain representations of negative affect. Nature Neuroscience, 25(6), 760–770. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01082-w

Koban, L., Gianaros, P. J., Kober, H., & Wager, T. D. (2021). The self in context: Brain Systems Linking Mental and physical health. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 22(5), 309–322. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-021-00446-8

Koban, L., Wager, T. D., & Kober, H. (2022). A neuromarker for drug and food craving distinguishes drug users from non-users. Nature Neuroscience, 26(2), 316–325. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01228-w

Zunhammer, M., Spisák, T., Wager, T. D., Bingel, U., Atlas, L., Benedetti, F., Büchel, C., Choi, J. C., Colloca, L., Duzzi, D., Eippert, F., Ellingsen, D.-M., Elsenbruch, S., Geuter, S., Kaptchuk, T. J., Kessner, S. S., Kirsch, I., Kong, J., Lamm, C., … Zeidan, F. (2021). Meta-analysis of neural systems underlying placebo analgesia from individual participant fmri data. Nature Communications, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21179-3

Symposium Hosts

Richard J. Davidson, PhD

Address:
Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry
Director, Center for Healthy Minds
University of Wisconsin - Madison


Richard J. Davidson received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Psychology and has been at Wisconsin since 1984.  He has published more than 400 articles, numerous chapters and reviews and edited 14 books. He is the author (with Sharon Begley) of “The Emotional Life of Your Brain” published by Penguin in 2012. He is co-author with Daniel Goleman of “Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body”, published by Penguin Books in 2017.

He is the recipient of numerous awards for his research including a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Award, a MERIT Award from NIMH, an Established Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD), a Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD, the William James Fellow Award from the American Psychological Society, and the Hilldale Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was the year 2000 recipient of the most distinguished award for science given by the American Psychological Association –the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. He was the Founding Co-Editor of the new American Psychological Association journal EMOTION and is Past-President of the Society for Research in Psychopathology and of the Society for Psychophysiological Research.

In 2003 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2004 elected to the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. Named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2006.  In 2006 awarded the first Mani Bhaumik Award by UCLA for advancing the understanding of the brain and conscious mind in healing. Madison Magazine named him Person of the Year in 2007. In 2008, he founded the Center for Healthy Minds, a research center dedicated to the study of positive qualities, such as kindness and compassion. In 2011 given the Paul D. MacLean Award for Outstanding Neuroscience Research in Psychosomatic Medicine. Serves on the Scientific Advisory Board at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig from 2011-2020 and was Chair of the Psychology section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from 2011-2013. In 2013 received the NYU College of Arts and Science Alumni Achievement Award. He is a current member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Mental Health. From 1992-2017, he was a member of the Mind and Life Institute’s Board of Directors.  In 2017 elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the premier authority dedicated to the health and medical sciences. In 2018, appointed to the Governing Board of UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP).

His research is broadly focused on the neural bases of emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing including meditation and related contemplative practices.  His studies have included persons of all ages from birth though old age and have also included individuals with disorders of emotion such as mood and anxiety disorders and autism, as well as expert meditation practitioners with tens of thousands of hours of experience.  His research uses a wide range of methods including different varieties of MRI, positron emission tomography, electroencephalography and modern genetic and epigenetic methods.

Ned H. Kalin, MD

Address:
Hedberg Professor and Chair
Department of Psychiatry
Director, HealthEmotions Research Institute
University of Wisconsin - Madison


Ned H. Kalin, MD, is Hedberg Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He is the Editor in Chief of the American Journal of Psychiatry, the premier scientific journal of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Kalin is the Director of the HealthEmotions Research Institute and the Lane Neuroimaging Laboratory, a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, and an affiliate scientist at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Center and the Harlow Primate Laboratory. He serves as the principal investigator for several ongoing NIH funded research projects and has published over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles related to the adaptive and maladaptive expression of emotion and anxiety. His research focuses on uncovering basic mechanisms that relate stress to the development of psychopathology and to understanding the mechanisms that cause some children to be vulnerable for the development of anxiety and depression. In addition to his research activities, he treats patients who suffer from anxiety and depression who are refractory to standard treatment.

Dr. Kalin earned his medical degree from Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, did his residency in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, and a fellowship in Neuropsychopharmacology at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Kalin is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is a Fellow Emeritus of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatry. He has been recognized for numerous awards including the 1985 A.E. Bennett Award for basic science research in biological psychiatry, 2005 Edward A. Strecker Award, 2007 American College of Psychiatrists Award for research in mood disorders, 2007 Gerald Klerman Senior Investigator Award, 2015 Anna-Monika Prize of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital 2020 C. Charles Burlingame Award for compelling contributions to the field of psychiatry throughout his career , and most recently the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology Bruce McEwen Lifetime Achievement Award.. In 2013 he was inducted as a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 2015 he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine. In 2017, Dr. Kalin was inducted as a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He has served as President of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology and President of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, as a member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council and as Co-Editor for the international journal, Psychoneuroendocrinology. In 2019, Dr. Kalin was appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Psychiatry and continues to serve as the editor today.