Tamara Hershey

James S. McDonnell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in Psychiatry & Radiology

Phone: 314-362-5593
Email: tammy@wustl.edu

Additional Titles & Roles

Director, Neuroimaging Labs Research Center (NIL-RC) @ MIR
Director, McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience
Vice Chair for Research in Psychiatry
Director, Translational Neuroscience Division in Psychiatry

Education & Training

PhD: Clinical Psychology: Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1996
BA: Psychology: Earlham College, IN, 1988

Research Interests

Neuropathophysiology underlying cognitive and mood aspects of Parkinson disease.
Neuropathophysiological and behavioral effects of obesity and diabetes.
Using neuroimaging and neuropsychological techniques, we study:
1) effects of obesity, T1 diabetes and T2 diabetes on the brain in children and adults.
2) neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative changes in Wolfram syndrome
3) effects of Parkinson disease on cognitive and mood processes; how deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus affects brain function.

Visit lab website

Key Publications

Lugar HM, Koller JM, Rutlin J, Eisenstein SA, Neyman O, Narayanan A, Chen L, Shimony JS, Hershey T (2019). Evidence for altered neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration in Wolfram syndrome using longitudinal morphometry. Sci Rep; 9(1): 6010. PMCID: PMC6461605
Read publication »Evidence for altered neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration in Wolfram syndrome using longitudinal morphometry
Siller AF, Lugar H, Rutlin J, Koller JM, Semenkovich K, White NH, Arbelaez AM, Shimony J, Hershey T (2017). Severity of clinical presentation in youth with type 1 diabetes is associated with differences in brain structure. Pediatr Diabetes; 18(8): 686-95. PMCID: PMC5290262
Read publication »Severity of clinical presentation in youth with type 1 diabetes is associated with differences in brain structure.
Pepino MY, Eisenstein SA, Bischoff AN, Klein S, Moerlein SM, Perlmutter JS, Black KJ, Hershey T (2016). Sweet dopamine: Sucrose preferences relate differentially to striatal D2 receptor binding and age in obesity. Diabetes; 65(9): 2618-23. PMCID: PMC5001180
Read publication »Sweet Dopamine: Sucrose Preferences Relate Differentially to Striatal D2 Receptor Binding and Age in Obesity
Eisenstein SA, Bogdan R, Corral-Frias NS, Koller JM, Black KJ, Moerlein SM, Perlmutter JS, Barch DM, Hershey T (2016). Prediction of striatal D2 receptor binding by DRD2/ANKK1 TaqIA allele status. Synapse; 70(10): 418-31. PMCID: PMC4980198
Read publication »Prediction of striatal D2 receptor binding by DRD2/ANKK1 TaqIA allele status
Bischoff A, Reiersen A, Buttlaire A, Al-lozi A, Doty T, Marshall B, Hershey T (2015). Selective cognitive and psychiatric manifestations in Wolfram Syndrome. Orphanet J Rare Dis; 10(1): 66. PMCID: PMC4450481
Read publication »Selective cognitive and psychiatric manifestations in Wolfram Syndrome
Eggebrecht AT, Ferradal SL, Robichaux-Viehoever A, Hassanpour MS, Dehghani H, Snyder AZ, Hershey T, Culver JP (2014). Mapping distributed brain function and networks with diffuse optical tomography. Nat Photonics; 8(6): 448-54. PMCID: PMC4114252
Read publication »Mapping distributed brain function and networks with diffuse optical tomography

Funded Research Projects

Nutrition & Obesity Research Center(PI):Pilot Study of Reward Circuits in Childhood Obesity
NIDDK(Significant Contributor):Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Diabetes
NINDS(Significant Contributor):Biomarkers of Parkinson Disease Progression
NICHD(Significant Contributor):Cognitive and Neuroanatomical Consequences of Type 1 Diabetes in Young Children
NICHD(PI):Tracking Neurodegeneration in Early Wolfram Syndrome
NIMH(Key Personnel):Mechanisms of Cognitive Decline in Late-Life Anxiety Disorders
NIMH(Significant Contributor):Phasic Dopamine Release in Tourette Syndrome
NIMH(Key Personnel):2/3 Antiglucocorticoid Therapy for Cognitive Dysfunction in Late-life Anxiety
Horizon 2020(Significant Contributor):Treat Wolfram
NIDDK(Key Personnel):Hierarchical Brain and Physiological Responses to Hypoglycemia and HAAF in T1DM
NIEHS(Significant Contributor):Novel Pet Markers of Cognitive Impairment in Manganese Neurotoxicity
NCATS(Significant Contributor):Endoplasmic Reticulum Disease Center
NIH(Significant Contributor):Glucose variability, Autoimmunity, and Neurocognitive outcomes in T1DM: GAIN1
NIDDK(Significant Contributor):Neuroinflammation and Cognitive Impairment in Obesity
WU Diabetes Research Center(Significant Contributor):A trial of liraglutide in Wolfram Syndrome
NIMH(PI):Nfl: A potential biomarker of neuordegeneration in Wolfram Syndrome
NIDDK(PI):Brain Health Across the Metabolic Continuum In Youth at Risk for T2D
NIDDK(Significant Contributor):NeuroInflammation and Cognitive Impairment in Obesity
NIH(Significant Contributor):Manganese-Related Motor and Cognitive Impairment, and Proteomic Biomarkers
NIDDK(PI):Central Dopamine Receptors in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
NCATS(PI):NfL: A potential biomarker of neurodegeneration in Wolfram syndrome
NINDS(Significant Contributor):Neuroscience Training Program at Washington University
NIH(Other):A High Performance Research Image Repository (RIR) for the Washington University Center of High Performance Computing (CHPC)
NIH(PI):Investigating single-neuron mechanisms of face coding in the human brain
NIA(PI):NfL: A potential biomarker of neurodegeneration in Wolfram Syndrome
NIDDK(Significant Contributor):Program for Advancement of NIDDK-related Diverse Academicians and Scientists (PANDAs)
NIMHHD(Key Personnel):Racism, Mental Health, and Neural Processing among Black American Emerging Adults
NIOSH(Significant Contributor):Manganese-Related Motor and Cognitive System Toxicity Among Professional Welders
NIMH(Significant Contributor):Racism, Mental Health Disorders, and Neural Processing among Black American Emerging Adults
NIDDK(Significant Contributor):Cognitive Outcomes in Youth-onset T2D
Association Syndrome de Wolfram(Significant Contributor):Defining Wolfram Syndrome progression by modeling a Clinical Score for the disease
NIDA(Significant Contributor):Multidisciplinary Dissection of Pain-Induced Modulation of Prescription Opioid Use and Misuse
NINDS(Significant Contributor):Cortical Network Modulation by Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation