Psychiatry

Ayman H. Fanous

Chair, Psychiatry
Member of the Graduate Faculty
Professor, Psychiatry
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
602-827-2078

Work Summary

Ayman Fanous, MD is Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix. His primary research focus is the identification of genetic risk factors for serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In particular, he is interested in why clinical presentations differ between people with the same diagnoses and whether this might be due to different underlying genetic factors. He is also interested in developing methods of using and individual's genetic code to more effectively tailor treatments them, which are more effective and have fewer side effects.

Research Interest

My primary area of interest is the genomic etiologies of serious mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and others. For more than two decades, I have been engaged in family, twin, genome-wide association, and whole-genome sequencing of both population-based and family samples of these disorders. I have had a particular interest in uncovering the genetic basis of clinical variation within disorders. More recently I have been involved in Pharmacogenomics and Precision Medicine as applied to antipsychotic and other psychotropic medication utlilization.

 

Michael Grandner

Associate Professor, Psychiatry
Assistant Professor, Neuroscience - GIDP
Assistant Professor, Physiological Sciences - GIDP
Associate Professor, Clinical Translational Sciences
Associate Professor, Medicine
Associate Professor, Psychology
Member of the Graduate Faculty
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 626-4746

Work Summary

Dr. Grandner is a licensed clinical psychologist board-certified in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, Director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and Director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic at the Banner-University Medical Center in Tucson. His work focuses on real-world implications of sleep health. He has over 150 journal publications, holds leadership in several national organizations, serves on the editorial boards of several journals in the field, and has served as a scientific advisor to health, technology, athletics, nutritional, and pharma companies.

Research Interest

Dr. Grandner's research focused on real-world implications of sleep health. This includes (1) downstream cardiometabolic, neurocognitive, and functional consequences of insufficient sleep duration and/or poor sleep quality, (2) upstream social, behavioral, and environmental determinants of sleep health, and (3) real-world interventions for promoting sleep health and/or mitigating adverse effects of sleep loss. This includes research that focuses on causes, consequences, and strategies to mitigate sleep health disparities, studies of health-related outcomes associated with sleep-related behaviors, translational research on intervention development and dissemination, development and refinement of wearables and other novel sleep technology, explorations of health impacts of chronobiology and circadian rhythms, and other topics.

Eric M Reiman

Research Professor, Psychiatry
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(602) 239-6999

Research Interest

Dr. Reiman is Executive Director of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, Chief Executive Officer of Banner Research, Clinical Director of Neurogenomics at the Translational Genomics Research Institute, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona, University Professor of Neuroscience at Arizona State University, and Director of the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium. He and his Banner Alzheimer’s Institute colleague Pierre Tariot also lead the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative (API), which has helped to launch a new era in Alzheimer’s prevention research. Dr. Reiman and his colleagues have made pioneering contributions to brain imaging and genomics research, the unusually early detection and tracking of Alzheimer’s disease, and the accelerated evaluation of Alzheimer’s prevention therapies. He is an author of more than 300 publications, a principal investigator of several NIH grants, and a recipient of the Potamkin Prize.

Natalie S Dailey

Research Scientist
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 626-3973

Research Interest

Natalie S. Dailey, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist in the Department of Psychiatry and a licensed Speech-Language-Pathologist. Her research examines neural mechanisms associated with language processing and cognitive function in neurotypical adults, and clinical populations including those with language impairment and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Dr. Dailey combines diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) to identify structural and functional networks associated with language and executive function, as well as the integration of simultaneous eye-tracking and MRI to investigate the role of executive function in reading.

William Killgore

Professor, Psychiatry
Professor, Psychology
Professor, Medical Imaging
Member of the Graduate Faculty
Professor, BIO5 Institute
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 621-0605

Work Summary

Dr. Killgore is the Director of the Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) Lab in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona. He is a clinical neuropsychologist and research neuroscientist whose research focuses on understanding the brain systems involved in emotional processes and cognitive performance. For the past decade, his work has focused nearly exclusively on the factors affecting the mental health, wellbeing, and performance of military personnel and combat Veterans. His work combines neurocognitive assessment with state-of-the-art neuroimaging methods to study the role of emotion in complex cognitive processes such as moral judgment, decision-making, and risk-taking. He is also interested in how these brain-behavior systems may be affected by environmental and lifestyle factors such as insufficient sleep, nutrition, light exposure, physical activity, and stimulants such as caffeine. In particular, Dr. Killgore has explored the role of sleep as a mediator of psychological and emotional health and the potential role of insufficient sleep as a contributor to psychiatric disturbance, emotional dysregulation, and risk-related behavior. He is currently conducting several Department of Defense funded studies on problems affecting military personnel including mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Research Interest

Dr. Killgore holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Texas Tech University, and has completed postdoctoral training in Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Pennsylvania, and postdoctoral training in Cognitive Neuroimaging at Harvard Medical School. As Principal investigator, Dr. Killgore currently has over $17 million in active grant funding from the Department of Defense to study methods for accelerating recovery from mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, to develop online training programs for enhancing emotional intelligence and resilience skills in military personnel, to study the effects of stress on cognitive processing, and to validate a machine-learning cell-phone application that will individually tailor caffeine administration to sustain optimal performance during sleep deprivation. Presently, Dr. Killgore is principal investigator on multiple projects, including three aimed at improving sleep-wake patterns among individuals with mild traumatic brain injuries and/or post-traumatic stress disorder, while a fourth study is focused on modeling the recovery patterns of brain connectivity and cognitive performance at various stages of recovery following concussion, a fifth study is focused on developing internet-based methods for enhancing emotional intelligence and resilience capacities, and a sixth project aimed at identifying the personality factors that contribute to the ability to cope with emotional stress. He recently completed a DARPA funded study to identify the neurocircuitry that underlies the ability to sustain cognitive resilience during periods of sleep deprivation. Dr. Killgore also has over 18 years of military service, including 5 years on active duty as a Medical Service Corps officer and Research Psychologist in the United States Army during the Global War on Terror. While stationed at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, DC, Dr. Killgore served as Chief of the Neurocognitive Performance Branch and Special Volunteer with the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders within the National Institutes of Health. During his service, he was awarded the COL Edward L. Buescher Award for Excellence in Research by a Young Scientist. Dr. Killgore remains active as a Research Psychologist in the U.S. Army Reserve, currently holding the rank of Colonel. Dr. Killgore was affiliated with Harvard Medical School for 18 years. From 2000-2010, Dr. Killgore was an Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, with a 5-year leave of absence during his active military service. He was promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in 2010 with promotion to Associate Professor at Harvard in 2012. There, he served as Director of the Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA, until taking a position as Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in 2014.