Stanford University
Showing 1-100 of 121 Results
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Daniel A. Abrams
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAutism spectrum disorders (ASD) are among the most pervasive neurodevelopmental disorders and are characterized by significant deficits in social communication. A common observation in children with ASD is that affected individuals often “tune out” from social interactions, which likely impacts the development of social, communication, and language skills. My primary research goals are to understand why children with ASD often tune out from the social world and how this impacts social skill and brain development, and to identify remediation strategies that motivate children with ASD to engage in social interactions. The theoretical framework that guides my work is that social impairments in ASD stem from a primary deficit in identifying social stimuli, such as human voices and faces, as rewarding and salient stimuli, thereby precluding children with ASD from engaging with these stimuli.
My program of research has provided important information regarding the brain circuits underlying social deficits in ASD. Importantly, these findings have consistently implicated key structures of the brain’s reward and salience processing systems, and support the hypothesis that impaired reward attribution to social stimuli is a critical aspect of social difficulties in ASD.
My lab is currently conducting three research studies:
Speaker-Listener Coupling and Brain Dynamics During Naturalistic Verbal Communication in Children with Autism
We have a new study investigating how the brain processes and understands speech in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder as well as typically developing children. We are interested in understanding speech comprehension in children through anticipating incoming speech and accumulating speech information over a period of time.
Speaker-Listener Coupling and Brain Dynamics During Naturalistic Verbal Communication in Alzheimer’s Disease
In collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, our new study is exploring how the brain enables us to understand speech, with a focus on both healthy older adults and adults with Alzheimer’s Disease. We also aim to understand how the brain measures seen while we listen and understand a story are linked to language skills in these individuals.
Pivotal Response Treatment for Adolescents with High Functioning Autism Intervention Study
This is a 9-week intervention focusing on key social skills for autistic adolescents, while exploring brain plasticity using fMRI imaging. Your child will receive 1:1 sessions with our clinician, with parent training in clinic. Topics include: Greetings, Departures, Question Asking, Talking the Right Amount, Empathy, Sarcasm, and Eating and Drinking. We also coordinate with the school for additional support and opportunities to practice the targeted social skills in a club of interest. -
Teddy J. Akiki, MD
Clinical Scholar, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Postdoctoral Medical Fellow, PsychiatryCurrent Research and Scholarly InterestsDepression, PTSD, Glutamatergic Antidepressants (e.g., ketamine), Psychedelics, Multimodal Neuroimaging, Network Neuroscience, Machine Learning/Predictive Modeling, Morphometry
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Martijn Arns
Visiting Scholar, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
BioI'm a biological-psychologist and entrepreneur with a background in applied neuroscience and brain stimulation. In 2001, I founded Research Institute Brainclinics as a private and independent research institute part of the non-profit Brainclinics Foundation where I'm still research director. The Brainclinics Foundation’s primary mission is best summarized as: 'Applied Neuroscience: From the clinic, to the clinic' and focuses on interventional psychiatry and applied neuroscience where research outcomes should be easily translatable into clinical practice and clinically actionable. My expertise extends to the development and application of brain stimulation techniques, such as rTMS for depression and OCD, TMS induced Heart-Brain Coupling and EEG based precision psychiatry and stratified psychiatry. Currently, I'm associate professor at the University of Maastricht (Brain Stimulation and Cognition) and visiting scholar at Stanford University (Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab).
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Nicholas Bassano
Adm Svcs Admstr 1, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
Current Role at StanfordClinical Research Coordinator-2
Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science
Brain Stimulation Lab -
Helen M. Blau
Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Professor, Director, Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology and Professor, by courtesy, of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProf. Helen Blau's research area is regenerative medicine with a focus on stem cells. Her research on nuclear reprogramming and demonstrating the plasticity of cell fate using cell fusion is well known and her laboratory has also pioneered the design of biomaterials to mimic the in vivo microenvironment and direct stem cell fate. Current findings are leading to more efficient iPS generation, cell based therapies by dedifferentiation a la newts, and discovery of novel molecules and therapies.
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Zaeda Blotner
Adm Svcs Admstr 1, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
Current Role at StanfordImmigrant Child Health Program Administrator
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Dan Bowling, PhD
Instructor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioMy research aims to translate progress in the speech and music sciences into improved diagnostics and treatments for affective and social dimensions of mental health, including disorders of mood, anxiety, and sociality. See https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-023-02671-4 and https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01515-9
My doctoral research in Neurobiology at Duke University School of Medicine focused on the biology of emotional expression in speech and music. My postdoctoral work at the University of Vienna focused on bioacoustics, interpersonal synchrony, and social bonding. I have completed certificate courses in Cognitive Neuroscience and Translational Medicine, as well as undergraduate degrees in Biological Psychology and Neurophilosophy.
I have authored 40 scientific articles in top journals including Science, PNAS, Molecular Psychiatry, Translational Psychiatry, PLoS Biology, Trends in Cognitive Science, and Physics of Life Reviews. My work has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Austrian Science Foundation, the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna, and the Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute at Stanford University. -
Weidong Cai
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioMy research focuses on brain mechanisms underlying cognitive deficits in two distinct populations: children with neurodevelopmental disorders, especially kids with ADHD, and elders with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease. By integrating cognitive, neuroscience, and computational models with advanced functional neuroimaging techniques, my goal is to understand the neurocognitive factors that contribute to typical and atypical brain development and aging.
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Victor G. Carrión
John A. Turner Endowed Professor for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsExamines the interplay between brain development and stress vulnerability via a multi-method approach that includes psychophysiology, neuroimaging, neuroendocrinology and phenomenology. Treatment development that focuses on individual and community-based interventions for stress related conditions in children and adolescents that experience traumatic stress.
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Luis de Lecea
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical and Translational Neurosciences Incubator)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy lab uses molecular, optogenetic, anatomical and behavioral methods to identify and manipulate the neuronal circuits underlying brain arousal, with particular attention to sleep and wakefulness transitions. We are also interested in the changes that occur in neuronal circuits in conditions of hyperarousal such as stress and drug addiction.
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Karl Deisseroth
D. H. Chen Professor, Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsKarl Deisseroth's laboratory created and developed optogenetics, hydrogel-tissue chemistry (beginning with CLARITY), and a broad range of enabling methods. He also has employed his technologies to discover the neural cell types and connections that cause adaptive and maladaptive behaviors.
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Laramie Duncan
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study genetic and environmental effects on mental health. Much of our work is computational and it relies upon genetic data, collected from millions of individuals, from around the world. We use genetic approaches because the overall goal of the lab is to discover fundamental information about psychiatric disorders, and ultimately to build more rational approaches to classification, prevention, and treatment.
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Neir Eshel, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories & Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator)
BioDr. Eshel (he/him/his) is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine.
His clinical focus is the full-spectrum mental health care of sexual and gender minorities, with particular interest in depression, anxiety, and the complex effects of trauma in this population. He works in collaboration with other primary care and mental health providers at the Stanford LGBTQ+ program.
His research interests (www.staarlab.com) include the use of optogenetic, electrophysiological, neuroimaging, and behavioral approaches to probe the neural circuits of reward processing, decision making, and social behavior. He has won multi-year grants from the National Institutes of Health, Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and Simons Foundation to further his research.
Dr. Eshel has published articles on dopamine and motivation, the neuroscience of irritability, LGBTQ health, reward and punishment processing in depression, behavioral predictors of substance use among adolescents, and the mechanism of transcranial magnetic stimulation. His work has appeared in Nature, Science, Neuron, Nature Neuroscience, Annual Review of Neuroscience, JAMA, JAMA Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Journal of Neuroscience. He is a co-inventor on a patent pending for a new class of drugs for addiction, and also the author of the book Learning: The Science Inside, a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He has delivered presentations on the neural circuits of motivated behavior, anger expression in patients with PTSD, how dopamine facilitates learning, and LGBTQ-related topics at departmental seminars in London, Zurich, and Tel Aviv, and at the meetings of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Society of Biological Psychiatry, and Association of American Medical Colleges, among others. He is also an associate editor of the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health, and an ad-hoc reviewer for numerous publications including Nature, Science, JAMA Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, and Current Biology.
Dr. Eshel has won honors for his scholarship and advocacy, including the Marshall Scholarship, the Outstanding Resident Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Science and SciLifeLab Grand Prize for Young Scientists, the Freedman Award (honorable mention) from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the Polymath Award from Stanford's psychiatry department, and the National LGBT Health Achievement Award.
He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Society of Biological Psychiatry, Association of Gay & Lesbian Psychiatrists, Society for Neuroscience, and other professional associations. He is also an advocate for LGBTQ rights, recently serving as the chair of Stanford's LGBTQ+ Benefits Advocacy Committee.
Prior to Stanford, Dr. Eshel trained and conducted research at the National Institutes of Health, Princeton University, the World Health Organization, University College London, and Harvard University. -
Lawrence Fung MD PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories & Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Lawrence Fung an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He is the director of the Stanford Neurodiversity Project, director of the Neurodiversity Clinic, and principal investigator at the Fung Lab. His work, which focuses on autism and neurodiversity, traverses from multi-modal neuroimaging studies to new conceptualization of neurodiversity and its application to clinical, education, and employment settings. His lab advances the understanding of neural bases of human socio-communicative and cognitive functions by using novel neuroimaging and bioanalytical technologies. Using community-based participatory research approach, his team devises and implements novel interventions to improve the lives of neurodiverse individuals by maximizing their potential and productivity. His work has been supported by various agencies including the National Institutes of Health, Autism Speaks, California Department of Developmental Services, California Department of Rehabilitation, as well as philanthropy. He received his PhD in chemical engineering from Cornell University, and MD from George Washington University. He completed his general psychiatry residency, child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship, and postdoctoral research fellowship at Stanford.
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Rachel Hilton
Casual - Non-Exempt, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
Current Role at StanfordResearch Nurse Practitioner- Precision Psychiatry for Williams PanLab, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences- Stanford University
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Andrew D. Huberman
Associate Professor of Neurobiology and, by courtesy, of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsIn 2017, we developed a virtual reality platform to investigate the neural and autonomic mechanisms contributing to fear and anxiety. That involved capturing 360-degree videos of various fear-provoking situations in real life for in-lab VR movies, such as heights and claustrophobia, as well as unusual scenarios like swimming in open water with great white sharks. The primary objective of our VR platform is to develop new tools to help people better manage stress, anxiety and phobias in real-time, as an augment to in-clinic therapies.
In May 2018, we reported the discovery of two novel mammalian brain circuits as a Research Article published in Nature. One circuit promotes fear and anxiety-induced paralysis, while the other fosters confrontational reactions to threats. This led to ongoing research into the involvement of these brain regions in anxiety-related disorders such as phobias and generalized anxiety in humans.
In 2020, we embarked on a collaborative effort with Dr. David Spiegel's laboratory in the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, aimed to explore how specific respiration patterns synergize with the visual system to influence autonomic arousal and stress, and other brain states, including sleep.
In 2023, the first results of that collaboration were published as a randomized controlled trial in Cell Reports Medicine, demonstrating that specific brief patterns of deliberate respiration are particularly effective in alleviating stress and enhancing mood, and improving sleep.
In a 2021, our collaboration with Dr. Edward Chang, professor and chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), was published in Current Biology, revealing that specific patterns of insular cortex neural activity may be linked to, and potentially predict, anxiety responses. -
Michelle Madore, Ph.D.
Staff, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
Clinical Assistant Professor (Affiliated), Psych/Public Mental Health & Population SciencesBioDr. Madore is multiracial, Filipina woman working as a Clinical Neuropsychologist at VA Palo Alto Healthcare System (VAPAHCS) in the Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC). Here she serves as the Director of the National Clinical Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Program whose mission is to: 1) increase the availability of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for treatment-resistant depression in Veterans and (2) gain a greater understanding of the treatment efficacy of TMS in our complex Veteran population. She is also the Co-Director of the Sierra Pacific MIRECC Advanced Fellowship at VAPAHCS. Dr. Madore is the site PI on two multi-site funded studies looking at neuroimaging biomarkers of treatment response to TMS in treatment-resistant depression. Dr. Madore is also a Clinical Assistant Professor (Affiliated) at Stanford University School of Medicine’s Department in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Cincinnati, where she received specialized training in neuropsychology. Dr. Madore completed her pre-doctoral internship at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS). She has completed postdoctoral training focused on clinical neuropsychology and neurorehabilitation research at VA Martinez, San Francisco VA Medical Center and VAPAHCS.
Dr. Madore is involved in several professional organizations and serves in several leadership positions. She is the Society of Clinical Neuropsychology Secretary and Treasurer for the Teleneuropsychology and Digital Technologies Special Interest Group of the International Neuropsychological Society. -
Robert Malenka
Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
On Leave from 11/01/2023 To 10/31/2025Current Research and Scholarly InterestsLong-lasting changes in synaptic strength are important for the modification of neural circuits by experience. A major goal of my laboratory is to elucidate the molecular events that trigger various forms of synaptic plasticity and the modifications in synaptic proteins that are responsible for the changes in synaptic efficacy.
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Ryan Matlow
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioRyan Matlow, Ph.D., is a child clinical psychologist who serves as Director of Community Programs for Stanford’s Early Life Stress and Resilience Program, and is a faculty member in Stanford's Human Rights and Trauma Mental Health Program. His clinical and research efforts focus on understanding and addressing the impact of stress, adversity, and trauma in children, families, and communities. In particular, Dr. Matlow seeks to apply current scientific knowledge of the neurobiological and developmental impact of stress, trauma, and adversity in shaping interventions and systems of care. Dr. Matlow is focused on engaging diverse populations and providing evidence-based individual, family, and systems interventions for posttraumatic stress following interpersonal trauma, with an emphasis on efforts in school, community, and integrated care settings. He is engaged in clinical service, program development, and interdisciplinary collaboration efforts that address childhood trauma exposure in communities that have been historically marginalized, under-resourced, and/or experienced human rights violations. He has worked extensively in providing trauma-focused psychological evaluation, treatment, and advocacy services with immigrant youth and families, with a focus on immigrants from Latin American countries. Dr. Matlow is involved in the training and dissemination of Stanford's Cue Centered Therapy (Carrion, 2015), a flexible, manualized intervention addressing childhood experiences of chronic trauma.
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Vinod Menon
Rachael L. and Walter F. Nichols, MD, Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Education and of Neurology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEXPERIMENTAL, CLINICAL AND THEORETICAL SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE
Cognitive neuroscience; Systems neuroscience; Cognitive development; Psychiatric neuroscience; Functional brain imaging; Dynamical basis of brain function; Nonlinear dynamics of neural systems. -
Percy Khushroo Mistry
Social Science Research Scholar, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
Current Role at StanfordResearch Scholar, Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory
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Philippe Mourrain
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator)
BioExpertise: Neurobiology, Sleep sciences, Molecular Genetics, Developmental Biology, Gene Silencing/Epigenetics
Methodology: Synapse Imaging (Two photon microscopy, Array Tomography), Calcium Imaging (Light Sheet Microscopy/SPIM, Light Field Microscopy), Optogenetics, CLARITY, Tol2 transgenesis, TALENs, CRISPR/Cas9, Video tracking and behavior computation. -
Seigo Ninomiya
Asst Clinical Rsch Coord, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
BioAt Stanford University School of Medicine, Seigo worked in NIH funded Clinical trials for a variety of neuropsychiatric disorder, and hands-on experience dealing data from neuroimaging methods such as fMRI, EEG, and 3D Neuro-navigation system. At UCSF School of Medicine, he has completed the internship program with the Center for Intelligent Imaging. As a part of Biomagnetic Imaging Lab and Speech Neuroscience Lab at UCSF School of Medicine, He has done data processing, Data QC, and analysis of MEG, fMRI data and several neuropsych scales such as GAD7, YBOCS, and Tinnitus Functional Index. He have hands-on experience on advanced neuroimaging technologies including fMRI and EEG in laboratory settings at University of California Davis., and obtained a CITI training certificate in both biological/behavioral training, and MRI training certificate from UC Davis Imaging Research center.
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Alisa Marie Olmsted
Affiliate, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
BioI am a board-certified psychiatrist and Advanced MD Fellow within the Sierra-Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) at the Veteran Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS). I am also affiliated as a postdoctoral scholar within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University with Leanne Williams, PhD as primary mentor. My general interests are in the implementation of experimental/novel therapeutics and precision approaches to improve outcomes in difficult-to-treat depression. In my developing research program, I focus on circuit-based paradigms in negative valence and social process domains, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and neuromodulation. Clinically, I operate in a primarily interventional space.
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Karen J. Parker, PhD
Truong-Tan Broadcom Endowed Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Comparative Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Parker Lab conducts research on the biology of social functioning in monkeys, typically developing humans, and patients with social impairments.
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Kilian M Pohl
Professor (Research) of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Labs and Incubator) and, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe foundation of the laboratory of Associate Professor Kilian M. Pohl, PhD, is computational science aimed at identifying biomedical phenotypes improving the mechanistic understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. The biomedical phenotypes are discovered by unbiased, machine learning-based searches across biological, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological data. This data-driven discovery currently supports the adolescent brain research of the NIH-funded National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) and the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD), the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the US. The laboratory also investigates brain patterns specific to alcohol use disorder and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) across the adult age range, and have advanced the understanding of a variety of brain diseases including schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, glioma, and aging.
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Sean Quirin
Assistant Professor (Research) of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator)
BioDr. Quirin's laboratory develops minimally invasive methods to explore the causal role individual neurons play in the emergence of behavior. To this end, the lab's strength is the development of techniques which manipulate light to both detect and restoratively modulate brain activity down to the single-neuron scale. His lab continues to innovate with new tools which map these functional relationships onto the molecular and anatomical architecture of the brain. Utilizing these techniques, the lab aims to characterize how ensembles of neurons coordinate to encode and communicate information throughout the brain for sensing and behavior.
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Nirao Shah
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator), of Neurobiology and, by courtesy, of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study how our brains generate social interactions that differ between the sexes. Such gender differences in behavior are regulated by sex hormones, experience, and social cues. Accordingly, we are characterizing how these internal and external factors control gene expression and neuronal physiology in the two sexes to generate behavior. We are also interested in understanding how such sex differences in the healthy brain translate to sex differences in many neuro-psychiatric illnesses.
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Ahmed Shamma
Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
Current Role at StanfordACRC in the Brain Stimulation Lab at Stanford University Medical Center
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David Spiegel
Jack, Lulu and Sam Willson Professor of Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Spiegel's research program involves mind/body interactions, including cancer progression, the response to traumatic stress, and the effect of hypnosis on the perception of pain and anxiety.
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Edith Vioni Sullivan
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsApplication of neuroimaging modalities and component process analysis of cognitive, sensory, and motor functions to identify brain structural and functional mechanisms disrupted in diseases affecting the brain: alcohol use disorder, HIV infection, dementia, and normal aging from adolescence to senescence.
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Leonardo Tozzi
Casual - Non-Exempt, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
BioLeonardo Tozzi, M.D., Ph.D., graduated as a Medical Doctor from Pisa University and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in 2013. In 2018, he was awarded his Ph.D. from Trinity College Dublin for his research on the impact of genetic risk factors, epigenetic modifications and environmental stressors on structural and functional brain changes related to depression.
Leonardo joined Stanford in 2018 as a post-doctoral researcher working within the framework of the Human Connectome Project. Since 2022, he leads the Computational Neuroscience & Neuroimaging Program at the Stanford Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness.
The goal of Leonardo's research is to develop quantitative biomarkers for psychiatry that are reliable, interpretable and can be used to guide treatment selection and estimate therapy response. To this end, he integrates behavioral measures and symptoms with large scale recordings of brain structure and function as well as other biological markers.
In his free time, Leonardo enjoys practicing martial arts, playing video-games and road tripping around the USA.