Alan Lewis
Department of Psychiatry
Center for Cognitive Medicine (CCM)
Early Psychosis Program
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
Our research focuses on understanding the neurobiology underlying cognitive and social impairments in neuropsychiatric disorders. We are particularly interested in neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism and their effects on hippocampal function. Our goal is to use a “bedside to bench” approach, starting with robust, replicable findings in human patient populations and applying cutting edge neuroscience techniques in rodent models to understand underlying pathophysiology.
We are interested in understanding neural circuits regulating aggression and social behavior with clinical relevance to neurodevelopmental disorders. Our research incorporates systems neuroscience approaches in animal models, human psychopharmacological studies, and collaborations with experts in biostatistics and genomics to understand why aggression arises in neurodevelopmental conditions and how to best intervene.