Dr. Amy Arnsten to Visit Pitt
The Department of Psychiatry will welcome nationally renowned scientist Dr. Amy Arnsten to Pittsburgh on March 31st as part of the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series. The title of Dr. Arnsten's lecture is Unique Molecular Regulation of the Newly Evolved Prefrontal Circuits Afflicted in Schizophrenia: Exposing Vulnerabilities.
Dr. Arnsten is Professor of Neuroscience at the Yale University School of Medicine and a founding member of the Kavli Institute of Neuroscience at Yale. Her interests in the neurobiology of mental disorders began when she was still in college, volunteering at the Greystone Park State Hospital in New Jersey. Dr. Arnsten earned her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of California/San Diego and conducted post-doctoral research with Dr. Susan Iversen at Cambridge University in the UK, and with Dr. Patricia Goldman-Rakic at Yale. Her research examines the neural basis of higher cognition. Findings from Dr. Arnsten's work have revealed that the newly evolved cortical circuits that underlie higher cognition are uniquely regulated at the molecular level, conferring vulnerability in mental illness and age-related cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's Disease. Her work has led to new treatments for cognitive disorders in humans, including the successful translation of guanfacine (IntunivTM) for the treatment of ADHD and related prefrontal cortical disorders.
The lecture will take place from 12:00-1:30pm in Room S120 of the Starzl Biomedical Science Tower. Contact Frances Patrick at patrickfm@upmc.edu for details regarding this lecture.