Tamara Hershey

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

Additional Titles & Roles


  • Director, Neuroimaging Labs Research Center (NIL-RC) @ MIR
  • Director, McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience
  • Vice Chair for Translational Research 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’s disease and other dopaminergic disorders.
Neuropathophysiological and behavioral effects of obesity and diabetes.
Using neuroimaging (MRI, fMRI and PET) and neuropsychological techniques, we study:
1) effects of severe hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia on the brain in children and adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus.
2) neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative changes in Wolfram syndrome
3) relationship between obesity and dopamine receptors in the brain, their relationship to behavioral features and weight loss.
4) effects of Parkinson’s disease on cognitive and mood processes; how deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus affects brain function.

Visit lab website

Key Publications


  • Funded Research Projects


    NICHD (PI): Tracking Neurodegeneration in Early Wolfram Syndrome
    NIDDK (PI): Early Predictors of Brain Health and Development in Youth with T1DM
    NINDS (PI): Using Diffuse Optical Tomography to Understand Deep Brain Stimulations Impact on Cortical Networks
    NINDS (Co-PI): NINDS Center Core for Brain Imaging
    NINDS (Key Personnel): Glucose Metabolism and the Default Mode Network in Health and Disease
    NIEHS (Key Personnel): Motor and Cognitive Health Outcomes in a Mn-Exposed African Community
    NICHD (Key Personnel): Type One Diabetes in the Brain in Children: Metabolic Interventions
    NICHD (Key Personnel): Ischemic Conditioning as a Neurorecovery Agent for Stroke
    Children’s Discovery Institute (Key Personnel): Effects of Childhood Malnutrition on Brain Development
    NIH/NCATS (Key Personnel): An Endoplasmic Reticulum Calcium Stabilizer for the Treatment of Wolfram Syndrome
    DRTC (Co-Investigator): Neuroinflammation in Obesity