Warren Taylor, M.D.

Dr. Warren Taylor received his undergraduate education at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, where he also completed medical school at the University of South Florida College of Medicine.  The then completed his residency training in psychiatry and his geriatric psychiatry fellowship at Duke University.  He currently holds the James G. Blakemore Chair in Psychiatry and serves as the Director for the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Broadly, Dr. Taylor’s research focuses on neurobiological factors influencing critical outcomes in depression in older adults, specifically examining the interface between aging and depression.  His team examines biological factors that contribute to the occurrence, phenomenology, and outcomes of late-life depression.  His work uses neuroimaging and neurocognitive methods to advance our understanding of the pathogenesis of depression and its long-term consequences.  This work is often accompanied by clinical trials designed to probe the biological substrates of the antidepressant response, using both naturalistic and open-label study designs.  This work has elucidated structural and functional neuroimaging findings are related to depression and treatment outcomes.  Much of this work has focused on the interface between vascular disease and depression in older populations.  His lab has examined how cerebrovascular ischemia may damage neural circuits involved in mood regulation, how this injury may contribute to the development of depression, and what genetic factors may influence the development of this ischemia.

He is a diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in both General Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry.  In addition to his appointment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, he is also a Physician Investigator in the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the VA Tennessee Valley Health System.

Active Research Studies:

Depression Treatment Study
This study is an important step towards personalizing treatment for depression. Ages 60+