Heather Burrell Ward

After connecting the dots between cognitive impairment and brain network organization in people diagnosed with psychotic disorders, researchers discovered the same link in those who hadn’t had their first psychotic episode.

Groundbreaking study links cognition and brain networks before the first psychotic break

Early detection opens the door to intervention via noninvasive neuromodulation for those with treatment-resistant symptoms of psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.

Study targets nicotine craving in schizophrenia

Vanderbilt’s Heather Burrell Ward, MD, has received a five-year, $928,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to test whether an externally applied magnetic field can reduce nicotine craving in people with schizophrenia.