The Vanderbilt Center for Cognitive Medicine studies abnormalities in cognition and cognitive functioning that are key underlying constructs in neuropsychiatric disorders.  

We incorporates advances in cellular/molecular, systems, and cognitive neuroscience, brain imaging, drug discovery, and clinical research.  We then develop human translational experimental models to test hypotheses for experimental manipulation.  We have a particular emphasis on age-related cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and late life depression as well as disorders of accelerated aging as seen in disorders such as HIV infection, Down syndrome, and cancer. In addition, investigators study the cognitive and brain aspects of schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder. A particular emphasis is on developing novel therapeutics based on cognitive models of neuropsychiatric disorders. 

Research collaborations are numerous across Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University and include active collaborations with the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, the Tennessee Center for AIDS Research, the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Department of Veterans Affairs Nashville VA Medical Center, and many others.

We also have an active training program in collaboration with the Vanderbilt Brain Institute and the Neuroscience Graduate program as well as training Vanderbilt neuroscience undergraduates and Geriatric Psychiatry fellows in collaboration with the Vanderbilt Division of Geriatric Psychiatry.

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