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Biosketch: Tamara Hershey, Ph.D.
Blue Pages (restricted access) |
I
am a neuropsychologist interested in the neural underpinnings of cognitive
dysfunction in several diseases relevant to dopamine and/or
development. Cognitive dysfunction in diseases relevant to dopamine,
such as Parkinson’s disease, Tourette's Syndrome, attention deficit
disorders, or schizophrenia, can be limiting and disabling.
Currently, when deficits in cognitive skills such as working memory are
seen in these patient populations, it is speculated that the impairments
are due to “dysfunction of the dopaminergic pathways”. Using a
combination of functional neuroimaging, pharmacological and cognitive
techniques, we are trying to differentiate the effects of these very
different disease processes on dopaminergic and cognitive systems.
Currently,
functional neuroimaging (PET and fMRI) and neuropsychological studies are
being performed on patients with Parkinson’s disease under a variety of
treatment conditions (including subthalamic stimulation) and on
individuals with Tourette's Syndrome. In another line of research,
we are examining the impact of type I diabetes on children’s cognitive
skills, particularly memory. Using neuropsychological and
neuroimaging methods, we are studying how memory function and its neural
underpinnings are affected by severe hypoglycemia, and how this
relationship is altered across development. This research has
significant implications for the treatment of type I diabetes in children
and can potentially contribute to our understanding of how metabolic
insults to the developing brain affect the hippocampus, memory and
executive skills. | |||||||
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Postdoctoral fellow position open Click to find out more about a postdoctoral research opportunity in the Hershey lab | ||||||||
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This page maintained by Dana Perantie (DanaP@npg.wustl.edu)
