PTSD: Identifying Risk and Current and Future Interventions

Dr. Risbrough is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego and Associate Director of Neuroscience for the Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health for Veterans Affairs. Her research is centered on translational mechanisms and treatments of anxiety and depression particularly trauma-related disorders. She leads a dual preclinical/clinical research program focusing on identifying mechanisms of risk and resilience to post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as development of new pharmacological treatments for these disorders. She uses homologous physiological and behavioral measures of trauma response across rodents and humans to develop translational probes of anxiety responding and treatment efficacy. Her preclinical laboratory uses behavioral, pharmacological, genetic and molecular techniques to identify genetic and circuit mechanisms of enduring trauma responses. Her clinical work examines mechanisms underlying core disruptions of fear learning and inhibition in trauma-related disorders, as well as development of novel pharmacological treatments targeting these mechanisms. Examples of her clinical work include her directorship of the Neurocognition Project of the Marine Resiliency Study, assessing neurocognitive, biological and psychophysiological markers of risk for PTSD in combat exposed individuals. She is on the Scientific Council for the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, is a Member of the American College of Neuropharmacology and is Associate Editor of Neurobiology of Stress. She has received funding from NARSAD, NIDA, NIMH, VA, DOD and TRDRP and Navy BUMED.