Cognitive and Behavioral Health Division

Division Director: Cary Savage, PhD
Associate Director, Jessica Helling, MD

The brain has an amazing capacity to take in vast quantities of information, and to process this information in such a way as to make decisions and to adapt activities in ways that are important for both social interaction and survival. The Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Health is concerned with both how the normal brain processes information leading to appropriate behavior. It is also concerned with how this processing may lead to inappropriate behaviors such as addictions, impulsive behaviors such as aggression, gambling, or overeating and how it is altered at different stages of life from infancy to old age. In addition, more recent discoveries show that brain plasticity, and learning and brain remodeling are life-long events. Thus cognitive and behavioral health is important in understanding how the brain works.

A wide range of genetic and brain disorders can lead to marked changes in cognition and behavior. This is especially true in children, where the numbers of patients with autism or attention deficit disorder are rapidly increasing, Numerous other developmental disabilities exist that lead to life-long impairment. Traumatic brain injury and stroke can both severely affect cognition and behavior. Similarly, patients with psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, mania and depression, by definition suffer from behavioral disorders. Finally, degenerative brain conditions such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease also contribute to cognitive and behavioral disorders. Thus, cognitive and behavioral health is far reaching, playing an important complementary role with the other 5 divisions of the CND.

The field of cognitive and behavioral health has advanced very rapidly, largely as a result of new technologies and approaches. Several lines of research have contributed to these advances, including human functional neuroimaging, genetics, animal studies, and pharmacologic investigations. In the realm of functional neuroimaging, a great deal has been learned from “cognitive activation” paradigms, in which people are scanned while they engage in mental or behavioral tasks. Specific brain regions become more active in response to the deands of the task and these changes in brain activity can be quantified using neuroimaging technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG).  KUMC is truly fortunate in having these state of the art technologies available in one of the most advanced imaging centers in the Midwest, the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center.

We propose to strengthen ongoing research being conducted by recruiting 2 additional senior and 2 junior investigators of which 2 will be basic cognitive or behavioral scientists and 2 clinical scientists. These recruitments will strengthen our ability to conduct cognitive and behavioral health studies using neuroimaging, genetics, or pharmacologic interventions. We also plan to develop a neuropsychiatry fellowship which will include clinical blocks in specialty psychiatry and neurology clinics and research blocks for genetics, fMRI, and PET imaging.

Cognitive and Behavioral Health Division Investigators

Name	Affiliation
Befort, Christie	Preventive Medicine - KUMC
Brooks, William	Hoglund Brain Imaging Center - KUMC
Butler, Merlin	Psychiatry & Behavior Science - KUMC
Cain, Sharon	Psychiatry & Behavior Science - KUMC
Carlson, Susan	All Hth Dietetics & Nutrition - KUMC
Cirstea, Carmen	Hoglund Brain Imaging Center - KUMC
Davis, Ann	PEDIATRICS - KUMC
Ellerbeck, Kathryn	Ctr for Child Health & Develop - KUMC
Enna, Sam	Molecular Integrative Physiology - KUMC
Fey, Marc	All Hth Hearing & Speech Ed
Gabrielli, William	Psychiatry & Behavior Science
Gustafson, Kathleen	Hoglund Brain Imaging Center - KUMC
Hanna-Pladdy, Brenda	Center On Aging - KUMC
Hellings, Jessica	Psychiatry & Behavior Science - KUMC
Krumlauf, Robb	Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Kurylo, Monica	Psychiatry & Behavior Science - KUMC
Ladesich, Linda	Rehab Medicine Education - KUMC
Leidy, Heather	All Hth Dietetics & Nutrition - KUMC
Levant, Beth	Pharmacology - KUMC
Mak, Ho Yi	Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Manzardo, Ann	Psychiatry & Behavior Science - KUMC
McDowd, Joan	Center On Aging - KUMC
Nelson, Eve-Lynn	Telemedicine - KUMC
Penick, Elizabeth	Psychiatry & Behavior Science - KUMC
Pohl, Patricia	SAH Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science - KUMC
Poje, Albert (Buddy)	Psychiatry & Behavior Science - KUMC
Popescu, Mihai	Hoglund Brain Imaging Center - KUMC
Quaney, Barb	Center On Aging - KUMC
Rapoff, Michael	Pediatrics - KUMC
Reese, Matt	Ctr for Child Health & Develop - KUMC
Si, Kausik	Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Yu, Ron	Stowers Institute for Medical Research