Research Labs
The Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program in the Division of Psychology within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine organizes their research labs into the following Research Emphases:
Behavioral Medicine
Nicotine Dependence: This research lab incorporates treatment, human laboratory, and genetic epidemiologic methods to identify psychological and biological factors associated with the development and persistence of nicotine dependence. The primary goal is to inform the development of innovative psychological and pharmacological smoking cessation therapies. Current research focuses on the neurobehavioral regulation of cigarette cravings and smoking behavior in smokers with and without chronic depression, and an effectiveness trial of maintenance therapy for nicotine dependence.
Primary Mentor: Brian Hitsman, Ph.D.
For more information, please see:
http://fsmweb.northwestern.edu/faculty/FacultyProfile.cfm?xid=18520
Center for Psychosocial Research in Gastroenterology: The Center for Psychosocial Research in GI (CPR-GI) promotes and develops behavioral self-management skills for individuals who have gastrointestinal conditions for which there is no cure. Currently, Dr. Keefer’s research team works on one of two behavioral treatment outcome studies. The first study is funded through NIH-NCCAM and studies the effects of gut-directed hypnotherapy on relapse rates in Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease. The second study is funded through NIH-NIDDK and studies the effects of a minimal contact cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Other research projects in the lab include characterizing adjustment to IBD, understanding the dietary and nutritional need of patients with IBD and IBS and the continued development of behavioral interventions for other gastrointestinal disorders including globus, dysphagia and eosinophilic esophagitis.
Primary Mentor: Laurie Keefer, Ph.D.
For more information, please see: www.cprgi.org
Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies: This multidisciplinary Center integrates behavioral science, information and communications technologies, and clinical intervention research to develop and evaluate behavioral intervention technologies that promote physical and mental health through behavior change. Examples of current NIH-funded projects include the development and evaluation of internet and social networking interventions to improve symptom management among cancer survivors, novel mobile phone and internet technologies to treat depression in adults and prevent depression in adolescents, and mobile, home-based technologies that link to electronic health records to improve medication adherence for individuals with depression, schizophrenia, and HIV.
Primary Mentors: David C. Mohr, Ph.D. & Michelle Burns, Ph.D.
For more information, please see: http://cbits.northwestern.edu/
Health Promotion & Evidence-Based Practice: This lab focuses on health promotion, risk behaviors (e.g., cigarette smoking, poor quality diet, inactivity, obesity, stress, depression), behavioral interventions, evidence-based practices, and E-technology. The overarching goal of the research is to develop health promotion interventions that retain the efficacy of individual intensive behavioral treatments while attaining the reach, reduced cost, and impact of population-based interventions. A current research emphasis concerns identifying optimal ways to modify several unhealthy behaviors at a time (for example, high saturated fat, low fruits and vegetables, low physical activity, high “screen time”). Another emphasis involves using electronic technology to extend the reach of behavioral interventions. Other research interests concern health disparities, food “addiction,” and comorbid depression.
Primary Mentor: Bonnie Spring, Ph.D.
For more information, please see: http://fsmweb.northwestern.edu/faculty/FacultyProfile.cfm?xid=16136
Health Literacy & Learning Program (HeLP): The Health Literacy and Learning Program (HeLP) both 1) explores the cognitive, psychosocial, and health system factors that affect an individual’s ability to successfully manage one’s health, and 2) develops interventions to help patients and families obtain, process, and understand health information to make appropriate health decisions and adopt recommended behaviors. Active HeLP research projects includes epidemiological investigations of patients’ ability to perform common health tasks (i.e. prescription and over-the-counter drug use, blood pressure monitoring, healthcare navigation, provider-patient communication), and clinical trials testing innovative strategies to promote health behaviors (i.e. medication adherence, diabetes and hypertension self-management). HeLP sits at the intersect of health communication and behavior, patient safety, health equity, and meaningful use of health technologies (i.e. electronic health records, mobile technologies, internet, multimedia).
Primary Mentor: Michael Wolf, Ph.D. MPH
For more information, please see: http://www.healthliteracy.
Neuropsychology & Behavioral Neuroscience
Clinical Neuropsychology: The Clinical Neuropsychology lab is directed by Dr. Sandra Weintraub. Dr. Weintraub’s lab is within the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center (CNADC) and focuses on studies of cognition in “normal” aging, “SuperAging” (better than normal cognitive functioning in the elderly), and age-associated dementias, such as those caused by Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Current studies address behavioral, genetic and neuroimaging markers of these conditions, risk factors for healthy and diseased cognitive aging (including the relationship between sleep and memory loss), and the relationship between cognitive deficits and neuropathology at post mortem brain autopsy. One of the key areas in which students are conducting research is the clinical syndrome of primary progressive aphasia. This disorder is characterized by the insidious onset and progressive loss over time of language function (aphasia) due to neurodegenerative disease that targets the left cerebral hemisphere neuroanatomical network underlying normal language function. Findings from this lab have been published in top neurology and neuropsychology journals, and have spanned neuropathology, neurolinguistics, structural and functional neuroimaging, genetic risk factors and the impact of disease on patients and their caregivers. Cross-lab collaborations in Chicago and Evanston permit students to broaden the translational value of research.
Primary Mentor: Sandra Weintraub, Ph.D., ABCN, ABPP.
For more information, please see: http://www.brain.northwestern.edu.
Cognitive Neuroimaging in Aging and Dementia: This lab is directed by Dr. Rogalski. Dr. Rogalski’s lab within the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center (CNADC) focuses on structural neuroimaging related to cognitive systems in healthy aging and disease. Her studies investigate the relationship between cognitive mechanisms of language and memory and structural brain changes that accompany aging and dementia. Training in her lab provides students with skills for image analysis and synthesis of brain structure and function.
Primary Mentor: Emily Rogalski, Ph.D.
For more information, please see: http://www.brain.northwestern.edu.
Laboratory of Cognitive Control and Clinical Neuroscience: This lab focuses on understanding how cognitive control processes — those processes that help guide thought and behavior based on internally generated goals — are altered in individuals with or at risk for various forms of psychopathology. We use translational laboratory and fMRI approaches adopted from the cognitive neurosciences to study the functional neural networks involved in the control of attention, working memory, and behavioral responding and how these are altered in individuals with psychopathology (primarily schizophrenia and affective psychoses) and those at genetic or clinical risk for such disorders, as well as the impact of pharmacological treatments on these networks. Students in our lab have the opportunity to learn diagnostic and clinical assessment procedures of severe psychopathology, standard neuropsychological methods for evaluating cognitive functioning, and laboratory and fMRI based acquisition and analysis of neurophysiologic data.
Primary Mentor: James Reilly, Ph.D.
For more information, please contact Dr. Reilly directly at james.reilly@northwestern.edu (lab website is under construction).
Neuroimaging & Applied Computational Anatomy (NIACAL): Our lab’s research is focused on the development of multidimensional and multimodal neuroimaging biomarkers using the tools of computational anatomy. Working with collaborators from engineering, mathematics, psychology and clinical specialties, we focus on the following major areas: 1. Mapping of Brain Structures using MRI: We develop automated pipelines to delineate brain structures based on simultaneous mappings of multiple structures from multiple atlases. This includes deep brain structures (such as the hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, and basal ganglia) and cortical structures. 2. Complex Neuroimaging Biomarkers: We develop modeling and statistical approaches for the analysis of these maps. We develop frameworks for joint, integrated analyses of multidimensional, multimodal information based on the structural mapping of the brain. 3. Clinical Applications: We are interested in developing neuroimaging markers to characterize neuropsychiatric disorders, disease progression and prediction, and monitoring of treatment. 4. Neuroinformatics: Data sharing and data mediation. 5. Preclinical Applications: Neuroimaging of Animal Models.
Primary Mentor: Lei Wang, Ph.D.
For more information, please see: Neuroimaging and Applied Computational Anatomy Lab.
Policy
Health Disparities and Public Policy (Formerly Psycho-Legal Studies): The Health Disparities and Public Policy program provides opportunities to study the health needs and outcomes of special populations, for example, those who have been involved in the criminal justice systems. We focus on gender and race/ethnicity, examining the development and persistence of psychiatric disorders; disparities in risk and protective factors associated with psychiatric disorders; and related outcomes such as social role attainment, recidivism and HIV/AIDS. The program’s current study is the Northwestern Juvenile Project, a large-scale federally-funded longitudinal investigation of mental health needs and outcomes of 1829 delinquent youth, enrolled between 1995 and 1998. Since enrollment, we track and re-interview participants as they age. Prior studies examined crime victimization of persons with severe psychiatric disorders who lived in the community and mental health needs and patterns of service utilization of jail detainees. Overall, our mission is to provide empirical data on populations that are seldom investigated, information that will help improve services for traditionally underserved populations. Our studies have been cited in Supreme Court amicus briefs, in congressional hearings, in recent reports of the Surgeon General, and by many federal agencies, private agencies, and advocacy groups.
Primary Mentors: Linda A. Teplin, Ph.D. & Karen M. Abram, Ph.D.
For more information, please see: Health Disparities and Public Policy.
Mental Health Services and Policy: In the Mental Health Services & Policy Program (MHSPP), faculty and students investigate how to assess and address mental health, trauma, and child welfare needs in the community. Our unique relationships with multiple state and federal agencies and court systems allow students to examine program and policy efficacy using data from the child welfare, mental health, and juvenile justice sectors. Through research, coursework, and practicum opportunities, MHSPP prepares students to contribute as researchers to policy and administrative decisions within the public sector. For the coming year, MHSPP is interested in applicants for Northwestern’s JD/PhD program who wish to focus on legal and/or policy issues associated with children in the public sector and child traumatic stress. For more information on the JD/PhD program, please click here.
Primary Mentors: Neil Jordan, Ph.D., Gene Griffin, Ph.D., JD
For more information, please see: Mental Health Services and Policy Program.
Psychopathology & Treatment
Child and Adolescent Mood Laboratory: Our lab focuses on understanding the ways in which cognitive, social, environmental, and biological factors interact over the course of development in placing youth at risk for depression and suicide, and on developing evidence-based treatments for childhood depression. Our work then sits, at the interface of the developmental psychopathology and cognitive-behavioral therapy literatures. We are very interested in CBT for depression and in understanding predictors, moderators, and mediators of clinical improvement.
Primary Mentor: Mark Reinecke, Ph.D. ABPP, ACT
For more information , please see: Mark Reinecke.
Translational Research on Stress and Affective Disorders Laboratory: The Translational Research on Stress and Affective Disorders Laboratory is dedicated to translating methods and data from basic science on models of emotion to develop new treatment approaches for emotional disorders. Neuroscience research is defining the neural structure and circuitry of major depressive disorder in ways that are highly relevant to predicting individual differences in response to psychotherapy. Translation of basic affective neuroscience research to identify brain mechanisms of affective processing will help us identify predictors of treatment response for mood disorders.
Primary Mentor: Jackie Gollan, Ph.D
For more information, please see: the Stress and Depression Lab.
The Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Lab: This lab is directed by Dr. Molly Losh. Research in the Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Laboratory investigates the language and related abilities that define autism and related neurodevelopmental disabilities, and the neuropsychological, genetic, and environmental features that may be associated with the behavioral and cognitive profiles of these different groups. Specific study goals include: 1) To understand the different developmental strengths and weaknesses in language and related abilities in autism and related neurodevelopmental disabilities; 2) To define subtle language and neuropsychological profiles that may relate to the genes involved in autism and fragile X syndrome, among unaffected relatives; 3) to document the interactions between genes and environment in neurodevelopmental disabilities.
Primary Mentor: Molly Losh, PhD
For more information please see: http://ndl.northwestern.edu