Psychiatry Grand Rounds 9/18 | Kathryn L. Humphreys, PhD
Article on psychosis in youth published in American Journal of Psychiatry
Several Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences faculty recently contributed to a new published article in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The article, "Thalamic Nuclei Volumes in Psychotic Disorders and in Youths with Psychosis Spectrum Disorders," was produced by Anna S. Huang, Ph.D., Baxter P. Rogers, Ph.D., Julia M. Sheffield, Ph.D., Maria E. Jalbrzikowski, Ph.D., Alan Anticevic, Ph.D., Jennifer Urbano Blackford, Ph.D., Stephan Heckers, M.D., and Neil D. Woodward, Ph.D.
McHugo heads paper on early psychosis published in Translational Psychiatry
Maureen McHugo, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, was lead author on a new article published in the journal Translational Psychiatry. "Hippocampal volume in early psychosis: a 2-year longitudinal study" was created by Hugo as well as fellow Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences faculty and staff members Kristan Armstrong, LMSW; Maxwell J. Roeske; Neil D. Woodward, Ph.D.; Jennifer Blackford, Ph.D.; and Stephan Heckers, M.D., MSc.
Representative Publications from Addiction Division Faculty and Trainees
2019
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Centanni SW, Bedse G, Patel S, Winder DG. Driving the Downward Spiral: Alcohol-Induced Dysregulation of Extended Amygdala Circuits and Negative Affect. Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research. 2019 Dec;43(43). 2000-2013. NIHMSID: NIHMS1045978.
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Bedse G, Centanni SW, Winder DG, Patel S. Endocannabinoid Signaling in the Central Amygdala and Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis: Implications for the Pathophysiology and Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder. Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research. 2019 Dec;43(43). 2014-2027. NIHMSID: NIHMS1044327.
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Patrick SW, Buntin MB, Martin PR, Scott TA, Dupont W, Richards M, Cooper WO. Barriers to accessing treatment for pregnant women with opioid use disorder in Appalachian states. Substance abuse. 40(40). 356-362.
2018
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Kaltenbach K, O'Grady KE, Heil SH, Salisbury AL, Coyle MG, Fischer G, Martin PR, Stine S, Jones HE. Prenatal exposure to methadone or buprenorphine: Early childhood developmental outcomes. Drug and alcohol dependence. 2018 Dec 1;185(185). 40-49. NIHMSID: NIHMS939455.
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Cooper WO, Martinez W, Domenico HJ, Callahan ST, Kirkby BP, Finlayson AJR, Foster JJ, Johnson TM, Longo FM, Merrill DG, Jacobs ML, Pichert JW, Catron TF, Moore IN, Webb LE, Karrass J, Hickson GB. Unsolicited Patient Complaints Identify Physicians with Evidence of Neurocognitive Disorders. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. 2018 Dec;26(26). 927-936.
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Johnson S, Martin PR. Transitioning from methadone to buprenorphine maintenance in management of opioid use disorder during pregnancy. The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse. 44(44). 310-316.
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Hill MN, Campolongo P, Yehuda R, Patel S. Integrating Endocannabinoid Signaling and Cannabinoids into the Biology and Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. 2018 Jan;43(43). 80-102.
2017
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Patel S, Hill MN, Cheer JF, Wotjak CT, Holmes A. The endocannabinoid system as a target for novel anxiolytic drugs. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. 2017 Dec;76(76). 56-66. NIHMSID: NIHMS843439.
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Gorodetzky CW, Walsh SL, Martin PR, Saxon AJ, Gullo KL, Biswas K. A phase III, randomized, multi-center, double blind, placebo controlled study of safety and efficacy of lofexidine for relief of symptoms in individuals undergoing inpatient opioid withdrawal. Drug and alcohol dependence. 2017 Dec 1;176(176). 79-88.
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Bluett RJ, Báldi R, Haymer A, Gaulden AD, Hartley ND, Parrish WP, Baechle J, Marcus DJ, Mardam-Bey R, Shonesy BC, Uddin MJ, Marnett LJ, Mackie K, Colbran RJ, Winder DG, Patel S. Endocannabinoid signalling modulates susceptibility to traumatic stress exposure. Nature communications. 2017 Dec;8(8). 14782 p.
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Bedse G, Hartley ND, Neale E, Gaulden AD, Patrick TA, Kingsley PJ, Uddin MJ, Plath N, Marnett LJ, Patel S. Functional Redundancy Between Canonical Endocannabinoid Signaling Systems in the Modulation of Anxiety. Biological psychiatry. 2017 Oct 1;82(82). 488-499. NIHMSID: NIHMS860004.
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Patel S, Williams JW, Wallace RB. What We Do (and Don't) Know About the Health Effects of Cannabis and Whether Marijuana Is Medicine. Annals of internal medicine. 2017 May 16;166(166). 747-748.
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Piomelli D, Cooper Z, Abrams D, Grant I, Patel S. A Guide to the National Academy of Science Report on Cannabis: An Exclusive Discussion with Panel Members. Cannabis and cannabinoid research. 2(2). 155-159.
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Marcovitz D, Cristello JV, Kelly JF. Alcoholics Anonymous and other mutual help organizations: Impact of a 45-minute didactic for primary care and categorical internal medicine residents. Substance abuse. 38(38). 183-190.
2016
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Gamble-George JC, Baldi R, Halladay L, Kocharian A, Hartley N, Silva CG, Roberts H, Haymer A, Marnett LJ, Holmes A, Patel S. Cyclooxygenase-2 inhibition reduces stress-induced affective pathology. ELife. 2016 Dec 10;5(5).
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Marcovitz DE, McHugh RK, Volpe J, Votaw V, Connery HS. Predictors of early dropout in outpatient buprenorphine/naloxone treatment. The American journal on addictions. 2016 Dec;25(25). 472-7. NIHMSID: NIHMS812898.
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Finlayson AJ, Iannelli RJ, Brown KP, Neufeld RE, DuPont RL, Campbell MD. Re: physician suicide and physician health programs. General hospital psychiatry. 40(40). 84-5.
2015
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Martin PR, Finlayson AJ. Opioid use disorder during pregnancy in Tennessee: expediency vs. science. The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse. 41(41). 367-70.
Margaret Achee
Margaret
Achee
PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Division of Psychology
margaret.achee@vumc.org
Graduate School: University of Tulsa
Post Doctorate Track: Psychotic Disorders Track
Clinical Interests: First episode psychosis, Promoting recovery and resilience in individuals with psychosis, Intersection of trauma, substance use, and psychosis.
Ashley Layne, PhD
Ashley
Layne
PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Division of Psychology
Graduate School: University of Alabama
Internship: Vanderbilt University Medical Center Forensic Psychology Track
Clinical Interests: Forensic Assessment, Serious Mental Illness, Forensic Evaluation
Tyler Toledo
Tyler
Toledo
Ph.D.
Post-Doctorate Fellow
Graduate School: University of Tulsa
Internship: University of Washington, School of Medicine - Harborview Medical Center
Clinical Interests: Chronic Pain, Emotion Regulation, Coping with Chronic Illness
Lenie Torregrossa
Lenie
Torregrossa
Ph.D.
Post-Doctorate Fellow
Graduate School: Vanderbilt University
Internship: Sharp HealthCare
Clinical Interests: Psychosis, Early Psychosis, Prodromal Psychosis, Serious Mental Illness, Psychosis Recovery, CBT, ACT.
Haley Potts, PhD
Haley
Potts
M.A., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Division of Psychology
haley.potts@vumc.org
Dr. Haley Potts is a licensed clinical psychologist who joined the faculty in 2024 as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Her work focuses on psychological assessment in the criminal and civil legal systems. She is a member of the Vanderbilt Forensic Evaluation Team, where she conducts forensic evaluations for the Davidson County court systems. She also welcomes private referrals for all types of forensic mental health evaluations and is particularly interested in evaluating potential psychological injuries in civil cases.
Dr. Potts earned her undergraduate degree at Sewanee: The University of the South (YSR!). She completed a master's degree in forensic psychology from the University of Denver, where she gained experience in the treatment and evaluation of sexual offenders. Dr. Potts continued her education at the University of Alabama, where she earned a Ph.D. and a second master's degree in clinical psychology with a focus on psychology and law and worked extensively in Alabama’s state psychiatric hospitals. In 2022, she matched with Vanderbilt’s Forensic Psychiatry Clinic as their first-ever doctoral intern and was hired the following year to stay on as Vanderbilt’s inaugural postdoctoral fellow in forensic psychology. In addition to her clinical and research duties, Dr. Potts serves as the program director of the American Psychological Association’s continuing education sponsorship of Vanderbilt.
Dr. Potts’s research interests include the treatment of psychosis in restoring competency to stand trial, the role of criminal defense attorneys in the forensic mental health system(s), as well as the causes/effects of public mental health policy amid the United States’s “competency crisis.”
Alexandra Moussa-Tooks, PhD
Alexandra
Moussa-Tooks
PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Division of Psychology
Dr. Alexandra Moussa-Tooks is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at VUMC. She received a dual PhD in Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience from Indiana University Bloomington (2021) and completed her pre-doctoral internship (2021) and postdoctoral fellowship (2022) in Psychotic Disorders at the VUMC Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences.
Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital
1601 23rd Avenue South
Nashville
Tennessee
37212
Dr. Moussa-Tooks’ research program is focused on identifying cognitive mechanisms of psychotic experiences through behavioral, self-report, and neuroimaging approaches. Her work to date has focused on neural contributions of the cerebellum to cognitive deficits observed in psychotic disorders and associated risk factors for abnormal cerebellar development, including early life insults and endogenous cannabinoid dysregulation.
Dr. Moussa-Tooks is currently building a research program aimed at understanding how cerebellar processes, namely psychomotor functions like motor learning, contribute to disorganized behavior in psychosis. She hopes to translate her research into effective treatments and optimized assessment tools for disorganized behavior.
Representative Publications
* indicates mentee
Clarifying the Role of the Cerebellum in Psychosis
Moussa-Tooks, A., Huang, A., Rogers, B., Sheffield, J., Heckers, S., & Woodward, N. Cognitive Ability and Cerebellar Volume in Psychosis. Biological Psychiatry. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.03.013; PMID:
Moussa-Tooks, A., Kim, D., *Bartolomeo, L., Purcell, J., Bolbecker, A., Newman, S., O’Donnell, B., & Hetrick, W. (2019) Impaired effective connectivity in schizophrenia during continuation of cerebellar-mediated sensorimotor synchronization. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 45(3), 531-541. doi:10.1093/schbul/sby064; PMID: 29800417
Moussa-Tooks, A., Hetrick, W., Green, J. (2020) Differential Effects of Two Early Life Stress Paradigms on Cerebellar-Dependent Delay Eyeblink Conditioning. Neurobiology of Stress, 13. doi:10.1016/j.ynstr.2020.100242; PMID: 33344698
Moussa-Tooks, A., *Larson, E., *Gimeno, A., Leishman, E., *Bartolomeo, L., Bradshaw, H., O’Donnell, B., Mackie, K., Hetrick, W. (2020) Long-Term Aberrations to Cerebellar Endocannabinoids Induced by Early Life Stress. Scientific Reports, 10(1). doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64075-4; PMID: 32350298
Assessment and Modulation of Psychomotor and Motor Integration Processes
Lundin, N., Kim, D. J., Tullar, R., Moussa-Tooks, A., Kent, J., Newman, S., Purcell, J., Bolbecker, A., O’Donnell, B., Hetrick W. Cerebellar Activation Deficits During Delay Eyeblink Conditioning in Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin Open, 2(1). doi:10.1093/schizbullopen/sgab040; PMID: 34541537
*Mitroi, J., *Burroughs, L., Moussa-Tooks, A., Bolbecker, A., Lundin, N., O’Donnell, B., & Hetrick, W. (2020) Dose and Polarity Independent Modulation of Cerebellar Timing Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation. The Cerebellum. doi:10.1007/s12311-020-01114-w; PMID: 32036562
Kim, D. J., Moussa-Tooks, A., Bolbecker, A., Apthorp, D., Newman, S., O’Donnell, B., Hetrick W. (2020) Cerebellar-Cortical Dysconnectivity in Resting-State Associated with Sensorimotor Tasks in Schizophrenia. Human Brain Mapping. doi:10.1002/hbm.25002; PMID: 32250008
Assessment and Constructs
Moussa-Tooks, A., Bailey, A., Bolbecker, A., Viken, R., O’Donnell, B., & Hetrick, W. (2020) Bifactor Structure of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Across the Schizotypy Spectrum. Journal of Personality Disorders, 34, 466-491. doi:10.1521/pedi_2020_34_466; PMID: 32039649
Wolny, J., Moussa-Tooks, A., Bailey, A., & Hetrick, W. Race and Self-Reported Paranoia: Increased Item Endorsement on Subscales of the SPQ. Schizophrenia Research: Psychotic Disorders and Race (Special Issue). doi:10.1016/j.schres.2021.11.034; PMID: 34895794
Bailey, A., Moussa-Tooks, A., Klein, S., Sponheim, S., & Hetrick, W. (2021) The Sensory Gating Inventory-Brief. Schizophrenia Bulletin Open, 2(1). doi:10.1093/schizbullopen/sgab019; PMID: 34414372
*Chen, J., Purcell, J., Moussa-Tooks, A., & Hetrick. W. (2020) Psychometric Evaluation of the Pinocchio Illusion Questionnaire. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. doi:10.3758/s13414-020-02011-4; PMID: 32185641
alexandra.moussa-tooks@vumc.org
Dr. Moussa-Tooks specializes in individual psychotherapy for individuals with psychosis, using cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBTp) and Metacognitive approaches. She also serves as a member of the NAVIGATE first episode team, which offers coordinated specialty care to individuals within the first two years of a psychotic disorder. For more information on services, visit https://www.vumc.org/early-psychosis-program/services
Other areas of interest for Dr. Moussa-Tooks include treating sleep disorders like insomnia with behavioral and cognitive approaches (CBT for insomnia), inpatient assessment and brief interventions, and culturally-informed adaptations to existing psychotherapy interventions.