Bio


Dr. Sripriya (Priya) Chari is a CA Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor working with the INSPIRE Clinic at Stanford. Dr. Chari's clinical interests lie in early identification of the psychosis risk syndrome and providing evidence based psychotherapeutic interventions from a recovery oriented perspective. Prior to the INSPIRE Clinic, Dr. Chari was a clinical assessor for the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study, aimed at studying the predictors for conversion to psychosis of youth at clinical high risk for psychosis. She also worked for Santa Clara County Department of Mental Health, in inpatient, outpatient, and forensic settings providing psychotherapy and assessment services.

Clinical Focus


  • Psychology
  • Psychosis

Academic Appointments


  • Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Professional Education


  • Internship: UC Davis at VA Medical Center Martinez (2014) CA
  • Residency: Santa Clara Medical Center (2016) CA
  • PhD Training: Palo Alto University Pacific Graduate School of Psychology (2014) CA

All Publications


  • I THINK MY PATIENT MAY BE EXPERIENCING PSYCHOSIS - NOW WHAT? HOW PROVIDERS CAN SUPPORT EARLY IDENTIFICATION AND INTERVENTION. Eisen, K., Chari, S., Salaheldin, K., Zepp, C., Ballon, J., Hardy, K. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2022: S1
  • Impaired prefrontal functional connectivity associated with working memory task performance and disorganization despite intact activations in schizophrenia. Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging Chari, S., Minzenberg, M. J., Solomon, M., Ragland, J. D., Nguyen, Q., Carter, C. S., Yoon, J. H. 2019; 287: 10–18

    Abstract

    Working memory (WM) deficits are key features of schizophrenia and are associated with significant functional impairment. The precise mechanisms of WM and their relationship between WM deficits with other clinical symptoms of schizophrenia remain unclear. Contemporary models propose that WM requires synchronous activity across brain regions within a distributed network, including lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and task-relevant posterior sensory cortical regions. This suggests that WM deficits in patients may be due to PFC functional connectivity (FC) impairments rather than activation impairments per se. We tested this hypothesis by measuring the magnitude of FC between lateral PFC and visual cortex and univariate activations within these regions during visual WM. We found decreased FC in patients compared to healthy subjects in the context of similar levels of univariate activity. Furthermore, this decreased FC was associated with task performance and clinical symptomatology in patients. The magnitude of FC, particularly during the delay period, was positively correlated with WM task accuracy, while FC during cue was inversely correlated with severity of disorganization. Taken together, these results suggest that impairment in lateral PFC FC is a key aspect of information processing impairment in patients with schizophrenia, and may be a sensitive index of altered neurophysiology.

    View details for PubMedID 30933745