WU program in neuroscience
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Kevin J. Black, M.D.
Associate Professor
Psychiatry
Neurology
Radiology

    My clinical interests focus on the interface between psychiatry and movement disorders. Areas of interest include traditionally psychiatric movement disorders (including Huntington's disease, Tourette syndrome, tardive dyskinesia, catatonia, motor signs in affective and psychotic disorders, and so-called psychogenic movement disorders) as well as psychological symptoms in traditionally neurological movement disorders (e.g. Parkinson's disease, Sydenham's chorea, HD, and dystonia). Clinically I am especially interested in treatment and nosology, including investigator-initiated clinical research.
    My imaging research is influenced by these clinical interests and is primarily focused on functional imaging of the dopaminergic system. In many diseases (e.g. idiopathic dystonia, schizophrenia, Tourette syndrome) there are a number of reasons to suspect a functional abnormality of dopamine-influenced basal ganglia circuits, yet many studies of specific elements of these pathways have been equivocal or negative. By giving a dopamine agonist, we "push on" these systems in a manner analogous to clinical challenge tests, and measure the response using PET and functional MRI methods. I have collaborated with Drs. Joel Perlmutter, Tamara Hershey, and others on studies of Parkinson's disease and idiopathic dystonia. I am now working on methods development with pharmacological fMRI (phMRI) and several studies of Tourette syndrome.

Selected Publications
 

  • Black KJ: On the efficiency of stereologic volumetry as commonly implemented for three-dimensional digital images. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 1999; 90(1):55-64.
  • Black KJ, Koller JM, Snyder AZ, Perlmutter JS: Template images for nonhuman primate neuroimaging. 2. Macaque. NeuroImage 2001; 14(3):744-748. http://purl.org/net/kbmd/n2k
  • Black KJ: Tourette syndrome and other tic disorders. eMedicine Journal 2004 www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic664.htm
  • Black KJ, Hershey T, Koller JM, Videen TO, Mintun MA, Price JL, Perlmutter JS: A possible substrate for dopamine-related changes in mood and behavior: Prefrontal and limbic effects of a D3-preferring dopamine agonist. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2002; 99(26):17113-17118.
  • Black KJ, Carl JL, Hartlein JM, Warren SL, Hershey T, Perlmutter JS: Rapid intravenous loading of levodopa for human research: Clinical results. J. Neurosci. Methods 2003; 127(1):19-29.
  • Hershey T, Black KJ, Hartlein J, Barch DM, Braver TS, Carl JL, Perlmutter JS: Cognitive-pharmacologic fMRI in Tourette syndrome: A pilot study. Biol Psychiatry 2004; 55(9):916-925.
  • Black KJ, Hershey T, Hartlein JM, Carl JL, Perlmutter JS: Levodopa challenge neuroimaging of levodopa-related mood fluctuations in Parkinson's disease. Neuropsychopharmacology 2005; 30(3):590-601.
  • For hot links to these or other publications: click here

    kevin@wustl.edu
    2111 East Bldg.
    Phone: 314-362-6281
    Fax: 314-362-0168
    Campus Box: 8134
    4525 Scott Ave.
    St. Louis, MO 63110
    http://www.nil.wustl.edu/~kevin