Nora Volkow

Apr 24, 2026 - 00:36
0 0
Nora Volkow

← Previous revision Revision as of 19:05, 23 April 2026
Line 27: Line 27:
Born in Mexico City to a Jewish family, Volkow is a daughter of Esteban Volkov, whose mother [[Zinaida Volkova]] was the eldest daughter of the Russian communist revolutionary [[Leon Trotsky]].{{cite news |last1=Duenwald |first1=Mary |title=A Conversation With: Nora Volkow; A Scientist's Lifetime of Study Into the Mysteries of Addiction |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/19/health/conversation-with-nora-volkow-scientist-s-lifetime-study-into-mysteries.html |accessdate=7 July 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=19 August 2003}} Volkow and her three sisters grew up in [[Coyoacán]] in the house where Trotsky was killed (now the [[Leon Trotsky Museum, Mexico City|Leon Trotsky Museum]]).{{cite web|title=Hooked: Why bad habits are hard to break|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hooked-why-bad-habits-are-hard-to-break/|website=60 Minutes, CBS News|accessdate=13 March 2015|date=30 April 2012}}{{cite web|last1=Tuckman|first1=Jo|title=Trotsky's murder remembered by grandson, 72 years on|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/aug/19/trotsky-last-day-by-grandson|work=The Guardian|accessdate=13 March 2015|date=19 August 2012}}
Born in Mexico City to a Jewish family, Volkow is a daughter of Esteban Volkov, whose mother [[Zinaida Volkova]] was the eldest daughter of the Russian communist revolutionary [[Leon Trotsky]].{{cite news |last1=Duenwald |first1=Mary |title=A Conversation With: Nora Volkow; A Scientist's Lifetime of Study Into the Mysteries of Addiction |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/19/health/conversation-with-nora-volkow-scientist-s-lifetime-study-into-mysteries.html |accessdate=7 July 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=19 August 2003}} Volkow and her three sisters grew up in [[Coyoacán]] in the house where Trotsky was killed (now the [[Leon Trotsky Museum, Mexico City|Leon Trotsky Museum]]).{{cite web|title=Hooked: Why bad habits are hard to break|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hooked-why-bad-habits-are-hard-to-break/|website=60 Minutes, CBS News|accessdate=13 March 2015|date=30 April 2012}}{{cite web|last1=Tuckman|first1=Jo|title=Trotsky's murder remembered by grandson, 72 years on|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/aug/19/trotsky-last-day-by-grandson|work=The Guardian|accessdate=13 March 2015|date=19 August 2012}}


Volkow was educated at the [[Modern American School (Mexico)|Modern American School]], in Mexico City, and graduated [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] from the [[National University of Mexico]], before her postdoctoral training in Psychiatry at [[New York University]]. During psychiatry residency, she worked on PET scan projects with psychiatrist Jonathan Brodie.
Volkow was educated at the [[Modern American School (Mexico)|Modern American School]], in Mexico City, and graduated [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] from the [[National University of Mexico]], before her postdoctoral training in Psychiatry at [[New York University]]. During psychiatry residency, she used [[Positron emission tomography|Positron Emission Tomography]] (PET) scans in her research with psychiatrist Jonathan Brodie.


== Career ==
== Career ==
Line 35: Line 35:


=== Disease model of addiction ===
=== Disease model of addiction ===
Volkow's imaging studies of the brains of people addicted to drugs have helped to clarify the mechanisms of [[drug addiction]]. At Brookhaven, [[positron emission tomography]] (PET) scanning was being used to study the brain in people with schizophrenia.{{cite journal |last1=Snyder |first1=Bill |title=Nora Volkow: Two paths to the future|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1803/3930|website=Lens: A new way of looking at science |publisher=Vanderbilt Medical Center |accessdate=20 March 2015 |date=February 2006|hdl=1803/3930 }} When Volkow moved to the [[University of Texas System|University of Texas]], studying patients with schizophrenia was not an option, but studying patients with cocaine addiction{{Cite web |date=2017-01-30 |title=Nora D. Volkow, M.D. {{!}} Brain & Behavior Research Foundation |url=https://bbrfoundation.org/about/people/nora-volkow-md |access-date=2025-10-15 |website=Bbrfoundation |language=en}} was possible.
Volkow's imaging studies of the brains of people addicted to drugs have helped to clarify the mechanisms of [[drug addiction]]. At Brookhaven, PET scanning was being used to study the brain in people with schizophrenia.{{cite journal |last1=Snyder |first1=Bill |title=Nora Volkow: Two paths to the future|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1803/3930|website=Lens: A new way of looking at science |publisher=Vanderbilt Medical Center |accessdate=20 March 2015 |date=February 2006|hdl=1803/3930 }} When Volkow moved to the [[University of Texas System|University of Texas]], studying patients with schizophrenia was not an option, but studying patients with cocaine addiction{{Cite web |date=2017-01-30 |title=Nora D. Volkow, M.D. {{!}} Brain & Behavior Research Foundation |url=https://bbrfoundation.org/about/people/nora-volkow-md |access-date=2025-10-15 |website=Bbrfoundation |language=en}} was possible.


Volkow and colleagues studied the distribution of blood flow in the brain of chronic cocaine users and control patients who did not use cocaine. They found decreased blood flow to the [[prefrontal cortex]] of cocaine users, that continued after ten days of withdrawal from cocaine use.{{cite journal |last1=Volkow |first1=ND |last2=Mullani |first2=N |last3=Gould |first3=KL |last4=Adler |first4=S |last5=Krajewski |first5=K |title=Cerebral blood flow in chronic cocaine users: a study with positron emission tomography. |journal=The British Journal of Psychiatry |date=May 1988 |volume=152 |issue=5 |pages=641–8 |pmid=3262397 |doi=10.1192/bjp.152.5.641|s2cid=7802167 }} This research has played a part in changing the public's view of drug addiction, from that of a [[moral]] violation or [[character flaw]] to an understanding that [[pathological]] changes to brain structure make it very difficult for addicts to give up their addictions.{{cite web |title=Drug Abuse, Addiction and the Brain |url=https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/drug-abuse-addiction |website=WebMD |accessdate=13 March 2015}}
Volkow and colleagues studied the distribution of blood flow in the brain of chronic cocaine users and control patients who did not use cocaine. They found decreased blood flow to the [[prefrontal cortex]] of cocaine users, that continued after ten days of withdrawal from cocaine use.{{cite journal |last1=Volkow |first1=ND |last2=Mullani |first2=N |last3=Gould |first3=KL |last4=Adler |first4=S |last5=Krajewski |first5=K |title=Cerebral blood flow in chronic cocaine users: a study with positron emission tomography. |journal=The British Journal of Psychiatry |date=May 1988 |volume=152 |issue=5 |pages=641–8 |pmid=3262397 |doi=10.1192/bjp.152.5.641|s2cid=7802167 }} This research has played a part in changing the public's view of drug addiction, from that of a [[moral]] violation or [[character flaw]] to an understanding that [[pathological]] changes to brain structure make it very difficult for addicts to give up their addictions.{{cite web |title=Drug Abuse, Addiction and the Brain |url=https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/drug-abuse-addiction |website=WebMD |accessdate=13 March 2015}}
Read More