Williamson named Faculty Head of House of Hank Ingram House

Edwin Williamson, M.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, recently started a new position at Vanderbilt, Faculty Head of House for the Hank Ingram House on the Martha Ingram Commons. As Faculty Head of House, Dr. Williamson will reside at the house with his family and 295 first-year students. His role consists of helping make their first year experience as intellectually stimulating and enjoyable as possible. 

Corbett work on stress, autism published in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorder

Two current studies by Blythe Corbett, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Psychology, and Kale Edmiston, Ph.D., a recent Vanderbilt Neuroscience graduate, highlight atypical physiological responses to social evaluative threat in adolescents with autism.  In a study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorder, male adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) showed differences in Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (a measure of the parasympathetic nervous system) indicating autonomic dysregulation.

Corbett, Sanders published in Journal of Neurodevelopment Disorders

Department of Psychiatry faculty members Blythe Corbett, Ph.D., and Kevin Sanders, M.D., and collaborators recently published findings from a double-blind, placebo-controlled study comparing the regulation of hormones implicated in the neuropathology of autism; namely oxytocin (OT) and cortisol.

House Calls to the Homeless

Wednesday is clinic day for Vanderbilt psychiatrist Sheryl Fleisch, M.D. The day is packed with patients, many with multiple physical and mental issues. Fleisch is dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved Vanderbilt T-shirt and a fleece jacket. She wears hiking shoes and carries a heavy backpack. There’s no white coat. No sterile hallway. No exam room. Her clinic is the street, and her patients are Nashville’s homeless.

Corbett work on theatre-based ASD intervention published in Autism journal

Blythe Corbett, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, served as lead author on the paper "Changes in anxiety following a randomized control trial of a theatre-based intervention for youth with autism spectrum disorder," recently published ahead of print in the journal Autism. The randomized clinical trial reports that youth with autism spectrum disorder showed changes in anxiety following participation in a peer-mediated, theatre-based intervention.