School of Medicine
Showing 41-60 of 1,223 Results
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John Wesson Ashford Jr
Clinical Professor (Affiliated), Psych/Public Mental Health & Population Sciences
Staff, Psychiatry and Behavioral SciencesBioDr. Ashford is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (affiliated) at Stanford University and has been a staff psychiatrist since 2003 and the Director of the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC) at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System since 2007. Dr. Ashford is a Senior Research Scientist at the Stanford / VA Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Research Centers. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board and Chair of the Memory Screening Advisory Board of the Alzheimer's Foundation of America, a Senior Editor of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, and the 14th President of the Society for Brain Mapping & Therapeutics.
Dr. Ashford obtained a BA the University of California, Berkeley in 1970. At UCLA (1970–1985) he attained an MD (1974) and PhD (1984), trained in psychiatry (1975-1979), co-founded the Neurobehavior Clinic, and was the first Chief Resident and Associate Director (1979-1980) on the Geriatric Psychiatry In-Patient Unit. He conducted the first double-blind study of an anti-cholinesterase drug (physostigmine) to treat Alzheimer patients (Ashford et al., 1981), a therapy which is now standard treatment for Alzheimer patients. Between 1980-1985, Dr. Ashford directed the Geriatric Psychiatry Out-patient Clinic at the Neuropsychiatric Institute and initiated the UCLA/Alzheimer PET scan study with Dr. David Kuhl.
Between 1979-1984 under Dr. Joaquin Fuster, Dr. Ashford completed his Ph.D. dissertation, a finalist for the Lindsley Prize for the best in Behavioral Neuroscience in 1984. With Dr. Fuster, he made the first proposal and physiologic demonstration of massive, reciprocal parallel information processing in the cerebral cortex (Ashford et al., 1985); a basis of memory, particularly that aspect of memory affected by Alzheimer’s disease (Ashford, Coburn, and Fuster, 1998). His Alzheimer and neurophysiology study led to the water-shed observation that neuroplastic memory mechanisms of the brain are specifically affected by Alzheimer pathology (Ashford & Jarvik, 1985; Ashford, 2015).
Dr. Ashford was an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine between 1985-1990, helping to establish an NIA-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Center. There he published the first use of Modern Test Theory in the field of Medicine, “Item-Response Theory” analysis of the Mini-Mental State Exam (Ashford et al., 1989). He was an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, Davis 1991-1992, at the Martinez, VAMC, and Chief of the Mental Hygiene Clinic. He was at the University of Kentucky from 1992-2003 as a tenured Associate Professor in Psychiatry, Neurology, and the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, and Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry, where he continued his Alzheimer research. He proposed a “Time-Index” method to measure Alzheimer dementia severity (Ashford et al., 1995; Ashford & Schmitt, 2001), used in the UK Nun Study (Butler, Ashford, Snowden, 1996), and to study loss of cerebral perfusion in Alzheimer patients (Ashford et al., 2000). With Dr. James Geddes he showed the central role of paired helical filament pathology in destroying neuronal processes (Ashford et al., 1998).
Dr. Ashford’s long-term research interests are aging, Alzheimer’s disease, brain imaging, and memory mechanisms. He has developed early detection and measurement methods for mild cognitive disorders and Alzheimer’s disease, currently working on an internet program: www.memtrax.com . He is reformulating theories of Alzheimer pathology. As Director of WRIISC CA, he has studied traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, chronic multi-symptom illness, and other neuropsychiatric illnesses.
Complete List of Published Work in MyBibliography: (140 references)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/john.ashford.1/bibliography/48071896/public/?sort=date&direction=descending -
Muhammad Asim
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am interested in investigating the cell type-specific and neural circuit mechanisms underlying emotional disorders. In particular, I strive to explore the neural mechanisms associated with psychedelic drugs, focusing on how these substances improve mood and exhibit antidepressant-like effects.
#Psychedelics #5HT2AR #striatum #amygdala #Depression&Anxiety -
Alan Atkins
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Child Development
BioDr. Al Atkins is a psychiatrist providing talk therapy and medical management in English and Spanish.
Dr. Atkins grew up in California and started his mental health career facilitating therapy at a prison in Buenos Aires. He teamed up with his patients and colleagues to build a climbing wall inside the prison, allowing patients to challenge themselves physically and mentally. After medical school at Brown University, Dr. Atkins completed psychiatry residency and founded a research team dedicated to investigating the healing power of walking in nature. After residency, Dr. Atkins traveled to Colorado to complete a two year fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. There, he served as Chief Fellow and pursued specialized therapy training. Dr. Atkins has been awarded the Kimberly Kelsay Curiosity Award for his enthusiasm for learning from his patients and the Catcher in the Rye award for "going the extra mile" for his Spanish-speaking Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) patients. Some career highlights have included teaching meditation neuroscience to doctors in Cambodia and getting to learn from doctors and patients in Kumasi, Ghana.
Contemplative practice, psychotherapy, humor and nature time permeate both Dr. Atkins' clinical and personal interests. His clinical style involves a slow-moving dynamic emphasizing trust, understanding, and diagnostic humility. He takes an integrative and minimalist approach; often prescribing things like morning walks or returning to a favorite hobby before resorting to medications. -
Aparna Atluru, MD, MBA
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPhysician Mental Health, Resident Mental Health
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Christopher Wallace Austelle
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioChristopher Wallace Austelle, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist and Clinical Assistant Professor investigating circuit-based treatments for mood and anxiety disorders. As a physician-scientist, he examines how neural circuits underlying emotion and cognition are dynamically coupled with the autonomic nervous system to shape interoception, and how disruptions in these integrated systems contribute to depression and anxiety.
With more than a decade of experience in neuromodulation, Dr. Austelle has worked across research and clinical settings using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), accelerated protocols such as Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy (SAINT), transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS), and implanted vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). His research integrates clinical trials, neuroimaging, and psychophysiology to develop targeted, physiology-informed interventions.
Clinically, he specializes in treatment-resistant depression and anxiety disorders, applying evidence-based neuromodulation strategies for individuals who have not responded to standard treatments. -
Rania Awaad, MD
Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAs the Director of the Muslims and Mental Health Lab, Dr. Awaad is dedicated to creating an academic home for the study of mental health as it relates to the Islamic faith and Muslim populations. The lab aims to provide the intellectual resources to clinicians, researchers, trainees, educators, community and religious leaders working with or studying Muslims.
