I am Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, through an afilliation with the Douglas Hospital Research Center. At McGill, I spend my time at the Brain Imaging Centre of the Montreal Neurological Institute.
At the Brain Imaging Centre, we spend our time mostly with imaging work, structural and functional. For structural imaging, we are using recently developed protocols that allow manual segmentation of frontal and medial temporal lobe structures. We are interested in morphological processes that are associated with cognitive decline, normal aging and hormonal dysregulations in nonclinical and clinical populations.
With regard to functional imaging, we are using both Positron Emission Tomography and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to investigate the effects of acute and chronic stress on the brain. Current projects include
- an investigation of the acute effects of stress on endocrine regulation, and activations in the brain (funded by NSERC)
- a study about the effects of different levels of self-esteem on central nervous system structures and activation across the life span (in collaboration with Dr. Sonia Lupien, Dr. Michael Meaney, and Dr. Mark Baldwin; funded by CIHR)
- a study about the effects of traumatic events on the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and the associated changes in central nervous system integrity (in collaboration with Alain Brunet from the Douglas Hospital Research Center)
- a study about the effects of acute stress on hormonal and central nervous system activation changes, and the possible modification of these changes through a combination of vitamine A, C & D (funded by Unilever Research Colworth, United Kingdom)
- a study about the effects of hormonal replacement therapy on the aging of the human brain, and the ingerity of specific central nervous system structures (funded by the Alzheimer Society of Canada)
I have studied Psychology at the University of Trier, Germany, and the Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, USA, between 1989 and 1994. After completion of my Masters' degree in Psychoendocrinolgoy, I did my PhD in Psychoneuroendocrinology at the Center for Psychobiological and Psychosomatic Research of the University of Trier. I am grateful for funding during this period from the study foundation of the german poeple. I came to Montreal in Decemeber 1997 and have worked as a Postdoc both at the Douglas Hospital and Montreal Neurological Institute. I am grateful for a research grant from the German Research foundation that allowed me to come to Montreal to pursue my research interests. In July 2000, I received a faculty appointment in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University.