Julia Sheffield, PhD
https://www.vumc.org/sheffield-lab/welcome
Dr. Sheffield completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago and her PhD at Washington University in St Louis. She completed her predoctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship within the Vanderbilt Department of Psychiatry.
Clinical Interests
Dr. Sheffield is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in psychotherapy for individuals with psychosis, using a cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBTp) approach. As part of this role, she is a member of the NAVIGATE first episode team, which offers coordinated specialty care to individuals within the first two years of a psychotic disorder. Dr. Sheffield also serves as a clinical supervisor for psychology practicum students, interns, and post-docs
Research Information
Dr. Sheffield's research focuses on identifying cognitive mechanisms underlying delusions using neuroimaging, behavioral, and clinical trials approaches. In work supported by a K23 career development award from the NIMH, Dr. Sheffield is conducting a longitudinal study of belief updating using computational modeling techniques. This study aims to identify psychological changes associated with recovery from an acute exacerbation of delusions. Dr. Sheffield was also awarded an R01 from the NIMH to conduct a randomized clinical trial of psychotherapy for individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, in order to determine the impact of treatment on belief updating processes. Finally, Dr. Sheffield is fascinated by the insula. She is working to understand its role in the development and progression of schizophrenia, with a particular focus on interoception.
Representative Publications
1. Sheffield, J. M., Brinen, A. P., Feola, B., Heckers, S., & Corlett, P. R. (2024). Understanding Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp) Through the Predictive Coding Framework. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, 100333.
2. Kittleson, A. R., Woodward, N. D., Heckers, S., & Sheffield, J. M. (2024). The insula: Leveraging cellular and systems-level research to better understand its roles in health and schizophrenia. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 105643.
3. Sheffield, J.M., Suthaharan, P., Leptourgos, P., & Corlett, P. R. (2022). Belief Updating and Paranoia in Individuals with Schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 7(11), 1149-1157. PMID: 35430406.
4. Sheffield, J.M., Karcher, N., Barch, D.M. (2018). Cognitive deficits in psychotic disorders across the lifespan. Neuropsychology Review, 1-25. PMID: 30343458
5. Sheffield, J.M., Kandala, S., Tamminga, C., Pearlson, G., Lerman-Sinkoff, D…, Barch, D.M. (2017). Trans-diagnostic associations between functional network integrity and cognition. JAMA Psychiatry. 74(6), 605-613. PMID: 28467520