| Dara M. Cannon, Ph.D.
Dara M. Cannon, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral fellow for the Section on Neuroimaging of Mood and Anxiety Disorders and the Molecular Imaging Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). After receiving her B.Sc. she obtained a Ph.D. in the summer of 2001 from the Pharmacology/Biochemistry Departments of University College Dublin, Ireland. In Dublin, she worked for Dr. Gethin McBean and Dr. Alan Keenan, investigating the long-term neurotoxicity and cardiovascular toxicity of MDMA ("Ecstasy"), with special focus on the serotonergic and noradrenergic systems in the rat brain. Dr. Cannon joined NIMH in 2001 and under the mentorship of Dr. Wayne Drevets her research currently involves psychiatric neuroimaging of the serotonergic, cholinergic, dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems in Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder and in adult women suffering from Post-Partum Depression (PPD) and Menstrual Related Mood Disorders (MRMD). Her fellowship involves training in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) including mathematical modeling of PET data and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The application of these technologies is being used to study receptor mapping in the human brain as well as neurophysiological and neuroanatomical correlates of mood disorders. Dara received the 2004 Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) to support her research. In addition she was awarded the 2004 New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU) New Investigator Award and was chosen to present in the Society for Nuclear Medicine 2004 Young Investigator Award Symposium and the 2006 GSK Young Investigator Award to attend the Neuroreceptor Mapping Meeting. Most recently, Dara has been awarded a second Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD), this time for 2006 to support her research into the dopaminergic system and anhedonia. |
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