CDI Faculty

Mary L. Phillips

Mary L. Phillips, M.D.

Dr. Phillips' research focus is the application of functional brain imaging to understand the neural basis of emotion processing in health and in individuals with psychiatric disorders. She directs programs of research which aim to examine the way in which the normal human brain responds to emotion and how abnormalities in emotion processing may contribute to the formation of symptoms in specific psychiatric populations. One of the main aims of her research has been to define the persistent and disorder specific abnormalities in pathophysiological processes underlying emotion processing in mood disorders, in particular, bipolar disorder.

Positions

  • Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, PA
  • Consultant, Department of Psychological Medicine, Cardiff, United Kingdom

 

Education

  • M.D., 1989, Cambridge University, UK

 

Relevant Publications

  • Almeida JRC, Versace A, Mechelli A, Hassel S, Quevedo K, Kupfer DJ, Phillips ML. Abnormal left-sided orbitomedial prefrontal cortical-amygdala effective connectivity during happy emotion processing discriminates bipolar from major depression. Biol Psychiatry. 2009;66(5):451-9.
  • Versace A, Almeida JCR, Hassel S, Walsh N, Novelli M, Klein CR, Kupfer DJ, Phillips ML. Elevated left orbitofrontal white matter fractional anisotropy in bipolar adults revealed by tract-based spatial statistics. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008;65:1041-1052.
  • Moses-Kolko E, Perlman S, Wisner KL, James J, Saul T, Phillips ML. Abnormally reduced dorsomedial prefrontal cortical activity and effective connectivity with amygdala in response to negative emotional faces in postpartum depression. Am J Psychiatry. 2010 Nov; 167(11):1373-1380.
  • Phillips ML, Ladouceur CD, Drevets WC. A neural model of voluntary and automatic emotions regulation: Implications for understanding the pathophysiology and neurodevelopment of bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry. 2008; 13(9):829, 833-857.
  • Phillips ML, Young AW, Senior C, Brammer M, Andrew C, Calder AJ, Bullmore ET, Perrett DI, Rowland D, Williams SCR, Gray JA, David AS. A specific neural substrate for perception of facial expressions of disgust. Nature. 1997;389:495-498.