Rajendra Morey, M.D.[Edit Page]
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BIAC - Duke University
Neuroimaging Core Director
Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center
Durham VA Medical Center
B.S., 1985, Case Western Reserve University (Computer Engineering)
M.S., 1992, Case Western Reserve University (Computer Science)
M.D., 1997, Hahnemann University - School of Medicine
Research Interests
neural basis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), emotion processing, imaging-genetics, functional MRI, structural MRI,
Research Statement
My research is focused on the neural mechanisms of posttraumatic stress disorder and many of the symptom features of PTSD. I am interested in the role of emotion processing and its interaction with the cognitive functions such as working memory, attention, and episodic memory in PTSD. Functional MRI with cognitive challenge tasks, pharmacological challenges, emotion regulation strategies, as well as structural MRI, candidate gene, and genome wide association studies (GWAS) are converging methodologies for understanding mechanisms of PTSD.
Recent Representative Publications
Morey RA, Dolcos F, Petty CM, Cooper DA, Pannu Hayes J, LaBar KS & McCarthy G (2009, In Press). The Role of Trauma Related Distractors on Neural Systems for Working Memory and Emotion Processing in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Journal of Psychiatric Research.
Dedert EA, Green KT, Calhoun PS, Yoash-Gantz R, Taber KH, Miller M, Tupler LA, Morey RA, Marx CE, Weiner RD & Beckham JC (2009, In Press). Evaluation of Lifetime Trauma Exposure in Recent Iraq and Afghanistan Era Veterans: Association with Current Psychiatric Diagnosis and Symptoms. Journal of Psychiatric Research.
Morey RA, Petty CM, Xu Y, Pannu Hayes J, Wagner HR, LaBar KS, Lewis DV, Styner M & McCarthy G (2009, In Press). A comparison of automated segmentation and manual tracing for quantifying hippocampal and amygdala volumes. NeuroImage.
Morey RA, Mitchell TV, Inan S, Lieberman JA & Belger A (2008, In Press). Neural Correlates of Automatic and Controlled Processing in Schizophrenia. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences.
Hayes JP, LaBar KS, Petty CM, McCarthy G & Morey RA (2008, In Press). Alterations in the neural circuitry for emotion and attention associated with posttraumatic stress symptomatology. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.
McDonald SD, Beckham JC, Morey RA, Marx C, Tupler LA & Calhoun PS (2008). Factorial invariance of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms across three veteran samples. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 21(3): 309-317.
McDonald SD, Beckham JC, Morey RA & Calhoun PS (2008). The validity and diagnostic efficiency of the Davidson Trauma Scale in military veterans who have served since September 11th, 2001. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 23: 247-255.
Morey RA, Petty CM, Cooper DA, LaBar KS & McCarthy G (2008). Neural systems for executive and emotional processing are modulated by level of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in Iraq war veterans. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. 162(1): 59-72.
Bio
Dr. Morey is an Assitant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University and is the Director of the Neuroimaging Core at the VA Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research and Clinical Center. He is the recipient of a NIMH K23 Mentored Career Development Award with Dr. Greg McCarthy and the PI of a VHA Merit Review Award to use imaging genetics methods in postraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dr. Morey completed his residency in psychiatry at the University of New Mexico and a clinical research fellowship at UNC Chapel Hill working in the lab of Dr. Aysenil Belger.