Martha E Shenton

Martha E. Shenton is a leading neuroscientist and professor of psychiatry and radiology at Harvard Medical School. She is also the Director of the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Her research has significantly advanced the understanding of brain abnormalities in psychiatric and neurological disorders, particularly schizophrenia and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Dr. Shenton is best known for her pioneering work using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate abnormalities in brain structure and connectivity. In schizophrenia research, her studies have revealed consistent findings of structural disruptions in regions such as the hippocampus, amygdala, and white matter tracts, contributing to the biological understanding of the disorder.

She has also been instrumental in applying advanced neuroimaging techniques to study mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), including sports- and blast-related concussions. Her work has helped identify subtle changes in brain tissue that are not detectable with conventional imaging methods, offering new pathways for diagnosis and monitoring of recovery. She has also published findings in high-impact journals with her collaborators on neuroimaging findings in post-traumatic stress disorders.

Throughout her career, Dr. Shenton has published extensively in high-impact journals and has collaborated across disciplines to integrate neuroimaging, neuropsychology, and symptomatology in those suffering from schizophrenia and schizophrenia related disorders. She serves, and has served, on numerous editorial boards, NIMH study sections, and has received several awards recognizing her contributions to neuroscience and mental health research. She has also received the William Silen Lifetime Achievement Award in Mentoring from Harvard Medical School. She has trained many clinical researchers in the field, who are now running successful research laboratories and serving as professors, department chairs, and deans at several medical schools worldwide.

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