Dr. Cowan’s lab has used a range of neuroimaging approaches to examine broadly the neurobiology of motivated behavior in humans. His work has focused on the effects of the recreational drug MDMA (ecstasy), food craving and disgust in obesity, and pain processing in aging and dementia. Dr. Cowan’s lab found that abstinent human recreational users of MDMA (ecstasy) showed evidence for altered brain structure and function that was consistent with reduced serotonin signaling in the cortex of the brain. His work in obesity highlighted the roles of implicit attention bias and reduced disgust sensitivity in obesity. Work with colleagues in pain processing in aging and dementia has begun to reveal the association of aging, sex, and dementia subtype in the pain response. Depression is an emerging area of research in his lab.

Before his appointment as Harrison Distinguished Professor and Chair at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Dr. Cowan was Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.